Off to the Valley

Kausambi Manjita: As you gain
experience, you start seeing a

lot of patterns and you also see a
lot of things that haven't worked.

When things work, you're
starting to see now patterns

out of things that are working.

So your wealth or your USP is that you
have this bank, a data bank, whether

it's intuitive or real frameworks.

You have intuition plus a
framework or set of frameworks.

Prateek Panda: Hello and welcome back
to another episode of Off To The Valley,

a podcast that brings to light the

incredible stories of those who left the
familiarity of home for New Horizons.

I'm your host, Prateek Panda, always
curious and eager to share these

journeys of courage and determination.

Today, we are excited to have Kausambi
Manjita with us, a true embodiment of

the spirit this podcast celebrates.

Kausambi, fondly known as Kaus, has an
extraordinary tale of stepping out of her

comfort zone, embracing the challenges
and opportunities that come with it,

and has landed herself in new lands.

Kausambi's journey from India to Canada
is not just a geographical shift, but a

testament to her entrepreneurial spirit.

As the co founder of Mason, she's
redefining the e commerce landscape.

Simplifying technology for
small retailers globally.

Now, while we will touch upon some
of her professional milestones today,

our major focus is to bring out some of
the human story behind these achievements.

Kaus, it's a pleasure
to have you on the show.

Let's dive into your inspiring journey...

First things first, tell us a little
bit about your background and how did

you decide to move from India to Canada.

Kausambi Manjita: First of all,
thank you so much Prateek for having

me here and it's a small world.

We spoke a while back and here we
are on a podcast you are hosting.

So exciting and so serendipitous
to actually meet you again.

Honestly speaking, for me, a lot
of things have been planned, like

the decision to be an entrepreneur,

to jump out and do something of my own, no
matter what was a very planned decision.

But, if you ask me has the decision
to move or be in a certain region

and all of that has been driven by

what opportunities arise based on,
the number one decision, which is I

want to be an entrepreneur and,
build my own successful business.

The first thing that we
built did not work out.

We were very specific to a geo.

We were not experimenting enough.

So I think the second time
around when we started Mason,

bang in the middle of the pandemic, I
think it was very clear in my head.

And of course our team and our early
team and co founder and our founding

team is that we'll do whatever it takes.

Like we'll figure it out.

And, but we will not say no to
opportunities because you'll never

know where the roads lead to.

And we started out in retail,
this time around that is the

specific industry we help out.

And because of that I think East Coast
in the U.S becomes standard go to answer.

If you are selling to brands and
retailers, you've got to have

some presence in the East Coast.

And, New York is where a lot of
partners and brands are, but again,

looking at the cost structure

of being in New York versus being in
Toronto, I think the decision was that,

Hey, like Toronto is not just easy

from a perspective of the cost, but
It also has a lot of Shopify talent.

So does this sound like
a good location, right?

So again, like to cut a long winding
answer short, depending on the

opportunity, it's just worked out this way

that we are like now straddling
a couple of geographies and

hopefully in future more.

Prateek Panda: Okay.

And when you made that decision right
and you mentioned a little bit about.

The Shopify talent.

And that's an interesting insight to have,
do you think that's what other founders

should also keep in mind when they decide
where their startup should be based?

A lot of them think about the U.S
as the very first option, right?

Because that's typically for most
startups, at least coming out of India

or even other geographies, the U.S is
the market they're trying to sell to.

Does it make sense then to be
in the U.S or does Canada offer

something different for you?

Why did you not move to the U.S then.?

Kausambi Manjita: I think for the first
time or a repeat founder again, the

question sort of the answer would shift

typically you would hear a lot of first
time founders, the standard answer.

And we did that with our
previous startup, right?

It was the West Coast, being
in the valley is where it says

Off To The Valley, literally.

And we did.

I was traveling very often and spending
a lot of my time in the Bay Area

everything from San Francisco
down the Bay, haunt till, I

don't know, Sunnyvale and so on.

So that is what we were doing.

And it's not that there are
no opportunities in selling

to retail in that region.

There are but I think as
a first time entrepreneur,

that's what you imagine that if
you're selling to U.S, everything

is happening in the Valley.

But as you I guess mature as
a founder, you start realizing

that life's very short.

So you want to maximize on the
opportunities to ensure that you

get the best out of that time.

You that's a very big learning for me
is do what it takes to make things work,

but also pick the path that promises
to be, even though more difficult

choice, possibly a bit shorter and
faster route to failure or success.

And I say both either, right?

It didn't not be only success, but
even if you fail, you've got to fail

quickly rather than like long drawn.

So I think the region depends.

I see a lot more second, third,
whatever, successful or folks who.

Didn't make it and then
made it work the second time

or the third time around actually
take decisions which are agnostic

of the which region to be.

Is it?

It's just U.S has the most
money and the standard answers.

But I think they have actually taken a
path where they have got the quickest.

Wins or losses yellow in the early
days went to Southeast Asia, Indonesia.

That's where they started.

That's what Raghav talks about.

And then you hear teams who
actually, you'd be surprised,

ChargeBee is actually in Amsterdam.

They're not in the valley, right?

So go where you need to be.

And I guess for us, that was
what the learning was and

we made it work this time.

Prateek Panda: Great.

And do you think Toronto gives you
some kind of a cost advantage that,

and did you estimate that upfront
or is that just a sort of secondary

benefit that happened to come your way?

Kausambi Manjita: It was
definitely for us, for sure.

Because again, as I said, retail New
York is a, it's a big hub and a lot

of folks are in New York, but if you
want to live in New York versus a

flying to New York once even once,
twice a month or three times a month,

it's a hundred dollars back and forth.

If you book on a good day and
it's a one and a half hours.

flight and you can literally do
2,3,4,5, whatever stacked meetings

over 2, 3 days and head back.

Right?

And that is works out much more
budget first than it would if you

are just sitting in Manhattan and
waiting for meetings to happen, of

course, like New York, Bangalore to
New York doesn't make sense of Toronto

to New York, of course, wasn't.

It's like a no brainer, I think
similarly, if someone has the

ability to be around New York,

but not necessarily
doesn't have to be Toronto.

But if you are like, it just
makes sense for me to be here.

And then I can fly into whichever
region I can be somewhere.

I can fly into LA if my clients are in
LA and I can just quickly go there at

$100, $150 and then make meetings work.

I think you should take that decision.

Prateek Panda: yeah.

And I know a lot of founders who moved
to Vancouver for the same reason.

It was relatively more, stable
for their personal lives and

a better, ecosystem that way.

And you could pretty much very
easily drive down to Seattle or

fly to San Francisco and be there
in a $250 round trip flight, right?

And the cost of it's hard to put a
price to the sort of convenience as

well as the stability that you can find.

Switching gears a little bit,
tell us a little bit about Mason

first your current startup,

and then we'll talk a little
bit more about the team.

Kausambi Manjita: So what
we do at Mason, we are an AI

solutions provider for commerce.

So we work with retailers and
brands to help them take leveraged

advantage of AI and get more sales.

That's end of the day.

That's what retail is all about.

Can I make more sales happen?

Today we help with their
online store presence.

We are soon branching out to
connecting offline and online too.

But we help them run.

AI powered sales and
promotions essentially take

decisions on one side of it,

just taking decisions on what kind of
products to run at what kind of price

and for what kind of consumers
segments, it can be the segment of

one and on which channel, right?

So that's essentially
what we help brands too.

We help them get more sales with AI.

And some of the names you must have heard,
Skechers in Thailand we have in India.

Mokobara starting to use it's fairly loved
brand and now getting out to be in India.

We have Myntra, Swiggy is some of our
older, larger enterprise customers.

We have young teams, even unusual
companies, brands like Amar Chitra Katha.

I'm taking Indian names because
I assume that a lot of our

audience will at least start out.

from India.

So these are some of the names
I'm sure a lot of us would have

heard originating from India.

Prateek Panda: That's awesome.

Now tell us a little bit about
your team and how it's structured

between Canada and India.

Kausambi Manjita: I think globally,
this is how we think about it.

And then keeping it region agnostic as
of now is that we have our engineering

and technology and product hub in India,

and we have our inside
sales hub in India, right?

So these are, and because
of that, we also have.

our customer success, at least the early
support and success in India, right?

So this is the hub.

And then each region has their
own specific nuance of marketing

and own specific nuance of the kind
of partnerships that we can strike

on specific nuance of field sales.

That is how we would have take a look at.

Each region and depending on where the
need is set up the appropriate go to

market teams in that region, right?

Always centralizing these
functions back in India.

And that's how even North America is not
necessarily thinking U.S versus Canada,

but most Canadian brands sell to U.S.

How we are structured is that North
America, of course, has its own marketing.

And go to market, I would say presence.

And then similarly for GCC that
we are starting off now, we are

starting with the same approach

and of keeping, our technology
and R and D currently in

India and our inside sales and

anybody who supports inside sales in India

Prateek Panda: Got it.

Did you have any kind of
initial connections or support

system in Canada already?

Kausambi Manjita: for me personally.

Yes.

Family is based out of Canada.

So my, my, in fact, my sister and her
partner and they're all Canadian citizens.

So it's of course, definitely
was a big, easy I didn't even

have to spend on that rent

Prateek Panda: That's a good thing

Kausambi Manjita: and I had
home food, every single day,

which is very important for me

Prateek Panda: it's hard
to put a price on that.

Okay.

If somebody is new and they might be,
starting a company in India, or I've

met a bunch of founders from Singapore,
Malaysia, who are all trying to sell

to the U.S market and finding ways
either to move to the U.S or to Canada.

If they don't really have
the initial connections,

do you have any sort of tips or advice
on how they can go explore those

markets, make a decision on where to move

Kausambi Manjita: Yeah, interestingly,
just a couple of days over the

last couple of days, I noticed

this young founder again, I wouldn't know
whether he wants his name to be mentioned,

so I'll stay off it, who basically

started out in India, not
necessarily from any of your idea.

I am brands, but he's
actually got customers.

early big names in India, got
early big names in Dubai, and now

getting, not big, but definitely
mid market names in in the U.S.

And I think is a great example of
a team of three, really going one

customer at a time to get your first.

20, 25 deals, right?

They're small, smaller ticket deals,
but he's getting that proof of

concept that he like, like people
want this product and people are

gonna want to pay for this product.

So I think it, and he has no, as I said
he's not tapping into an IIT network.

He's not tapping into a Wharton network.

He's not doing any of that.

That right?

And nor is he heavily funded.

He's still bootstrapped.

It's as I said, very early.

He's just, zero to one proving the proof
of, getting the proof of concept in place

and getting those first 25 customers to
pay and, he's just doing cold outbound,

I think he's just pinging people on
LinkedIn and doing whatever it takes.

One person leads to another and he's,
he's doing a great job of, you have to see

his emails and his outreach methodology.

I think he's he's really doing nailing
it, one by one, one thing at a time.

So the reason I'm giving this example
is that again, it really, and this

answer people don't like it because
it's not a, here's a playbook, use it.

It's not.

It really depends on
your personality type.

He's the kind of person
whom cold outbound works.

People are responding to him.

I've seen for me, cold
outbound has always worked.

I have ping people and they
have just responded back.

Not a gender.

thing looks like because I get response.

He gets results.

And but there are people who will
say that, no, actually for us,

partnerships worked on day one.

I got a partner.

Some people will say, no, I flew
in and I just stayed put for,

I've had people give me that
advice, fly in, stay put for,

I don't know, three months.

And then you'll figure out
your first deals, right?

Other people are like, go to events.

It really depends, I think, one, on
your personality and what works for

you, what you can leverage the most.

But second, also in your sector,
how do people make buying

decisions in your sector?

That is a very important question.

That

Prateek Panda: makes sense.

One of the things I want to touch
about is a little bit of your human or

personal side to this journey, right?

I've been shuttling back and
forth between North America and

India for almost six years now.

And pre COVID, I still had my entire team
based in India, whereas I was in the U.S.

And we really didn't Build a team
for remote work right back then.

Now, I think times have changed.

People have gotten adjusted
how to work remotely and so on.

But pre COVID, that was
not really the case, right?

So I would travel four
to five times in a year.

And at some point, it used to get very
tiring, not just physically, but mentally.

And I would notice these patterns
where, my brain would just

shut for two, three days, and

I would take a break, shut
down my laptop and my phone.

I lived in California back then
and it was easy to go find a place

to camp or just be in nature,
recharge myself and then come back.

Now you've been also going back and
forth between Canada and India a lot.

Do you see any sort of Challenges,
maybe, it could be physically, but it

could be also mentally that you have
to face as a founder as you're trying

to, shuttle and keep both of your teams
happy, keep the market happy and so on.

Kausambi Manjita: This
year I traveled to Canada.

I went back and forth between Canada
and Bangalore twice and between

Singapore and Bangalore three times.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And in between there were a few trips
here and there, so it, yeah, it can get,

I feel like it is just, I'm making
up for what I could not do probably

during COVID, but it just was required.

This year, right?

It might not be required every year,
but it was what requires this year.

That's where I feel like a
routine really has helped and

I did not ever have it before.

But I think now I'm just starting
personally, actually, for me, my dad.

Had a mini stroke early this
year and that sort of made me

pause and he's much better now.

Thank you so much.

But I think that made me pause and
question hey it's, he's, he on the face

of it, he has everything going for him.

He's been a very healthy person.

And you realize that as you grow
older, there are things that

sometimes are not in your control.

So it can happen for multiple reasons
and you don't really, like, how

do you start thinking about your
health, very important, your mental

health, I think from early on.

And my dad is just
figuring out how to be old.

So for him, I think a lot of
what we realize is that like

he was, for someone who's been

very busy and very active and
very self sufficient, even beyond

retirement, he's been just on his own.

Suddenly you are not the same.

You can't walk at the same speed.

You can't eat all the same.

food, your friends are dying
out, that was getting to him.

That's what we realized eventually.

So as you rightly said, like
mental health, like that is so

important, but a lot of it starts
with the input, mental health.

How do you just wake up one day and say
that now I'm going to take care of my

mental health, meditation, eating right.

Exercising.

I think all of those, we all know.

But how do you make it a habit?

And how do you make it a routine?

And keeping things flexible where I
think the flip side of it is also one.

Can I keep a routine?

But two, if I miss a routine, then it
doesn't mean that I'm starting from zero.

It's just a blip, right?

And for me, that has been another learning
and struggle this year is it's okay.

One week.

And as you can see long stints of
five, very long, prolonged trips

for work and in a different region.

In different weather conditions
in sitting in an airbnb and trying

to figure out people to meet too

not necessarily having everybody
around you all the time.

Being alone, I would say in a region
for me, for Singapore was like that.

So I think it really,
two things have helped.

One is.

Routine like some that every
day I need to do, walk X steps,

whatever helps me meditate, eat.

Certain avoid or be aware of what
portions were eating or eating more

balanced food, ensuring that
you're doing your medical test

when you are coming back home.

And I've been cautious about it
this year, but I think the second is

also not beating yourself too hard

and realizing that when you jump
off the bandwagon, it's okay.

It's just I just need to
restart from tomorrow, right?

It doesn't mean that
everything's gone back to zero.

Easier said than done.

Okay.

For a lot of people, right?

For a lot of us and I've
struggled with it all my life.

I think now I'm starting to
realize that daily commitments,

almost reminders for me,

when I put things on my
calendar, it really works.

And that's just my.

Trick I've started putting
everything on my calendar, like

15 minutes, 30 minutes slots.

And it works for me.

So I think figure out
what that is for you.

And and yeah, WhatsApp and calls and
constantly being in touch with people

who love you and who you love really make

Prateek Panda: I think one thing
that you mentioned, I want to

talk a little bit more about,

which was around not beating
yourself to it a lot, right?

Sometimes it's okay to,
not push yourself too hard.

I'm, I've been a three time founder.

I've always been, this
person who would hustle.

And even as an operator, that
just is in my blood, I would say.

And I know that most founders also
just are in that hustle culture, right?

And sometimes it's too late and then
your body tells you, or your mind tells

you that it's time to take a break.

And by the time it's more
often than not too late, right?

As in not too late, but

Kausambi Manjita: I understand.

already

Prateek Panda: caused a
fair amount of damage.

Right?

Now, that's the story we've been told
so much that you can't achieve success

unless you just keep hustling every day.

Now, you're also suggesting that once
in a while, it's okay to, of course,

you're suggesting it from a routine
standpoint on what to do to keep

yourself mentally and physically fit.

But when we bring it back to the work
context also what are your thoughts

on the whole hustle culture and

to what extent should
you actually push it?

And are you spending enough time
to read what it's doing to you?

Kausambi Manjita: I think I have
different perspectives on it.

And actually, this is itself, I
think, like a one hour conversation

or a day or a year long conversation.

But the basic, thing that
we all have to remember is

You said something about success and I
think what is success for you and be aware

that your definition of success will
also change as you go along in life.

What looks like success today
will be very different because

we are human and we are always

looking for that next drug
to run after to chase.

A lot of times we feel tired
or we feel burnt out because we

are like, Hey, we've been told

these are the 50 things to run after.

And so we're just running.

And and so we feel that at the end of
it, because it's like, what is burnout?

When you are so called meeting
your successes and you're getting

the highs, you're never burnt out.

You always feel very empowered,
and you are like, I'm ready to

take on something new, right?

Burnout happens because what you
are hoping somewhere inside, like

your expectation of what you would
be doing or what you are or what

you can do, what success you will
be at is probably not matching with

where you are in reality, right?

A lot of burnout is because of that.

And contributed by looking around you,

looking at people around you,
hearing like tons of news

about every successful person.

But I think the question that you should
ask yourself, and I don't think that is an

answer that everybody will
have when they are 22.

That's something that takes time.

But what is success?

And if you can define that for
yourself and continue to re anchor

it every five years, reassess it.

That's very important because what you
might think of success today might not

be anything remotely success for you
five years later but when you look back,

you'll realize that hey!, t minus five
of me actually thought that is success.

And so today I'm burning out and freaking
out because I'm thinking I'm not that,

but actually for that order t
minus 10, like 10 years back, that

person would say what I am today.

Reassess and define success for
yourself before anything else.

That's a hard thing to do, but it's
again, same as the routine part.

It's continuous, and we all are learning.

I think we'll all just
continue to figure it out.

There's no cookie cutter answer to that.

Prateek Panda: Yep.

Spot on.

So tell me a little bit about what
kind of support system you have.

You told a little bit about

your family already being there
in Canada and you had some

ties there and that helped

you a lot but outside of just the
geographic sort of uprooting and where

you're, trying to move to a new place,

founders, I always advise should
also have a sort of a small

network of people that they can
count on for difficult days, right?

When difficult days, just so
that, there's somebody to talk to.

Have you had the chance to have some
sort of support ecosystem that way?

And what's your advice for other founders?

Kausambi Manjita: I'm usually
a very outgoing person.

So no matter what geography that I'm at,
I make friends and connections, rather.

I would say friends is a very baby version
of that word, but like connections, right?

Like deeper connections with people
which are fundamentally very mutual.

So I have been blessed with that,
so I have the ability to do that.

And I think a lot of it is
purely because I'm very genuine.

When I'm in a, whatever
kind of relationship with

a person on the other side,

it's very genuine and it's, very give and
take, it's always very balanced, right?

Now, even in spite of that, I would
say the best support system that I

have found is actually my routines

and taking care of my own mental health.

I think that is the best support
system because if you don't have that,

you can have seven very strong
individuals in your life who are

always there to look after you.

But you yourself are dissing yourself
and that doesn't help, right?

So first you have to find
your best support in yourself.

You have to be your best friend.

That is the number one investment
you should do is in yourself.

Do you love yourself?

If that's not there, you're
just putting, I think, more

duress on your relationships.

You're making their life
difficult, so I think the first

thing to do is work on yourself.

And then of course, having
people also realizing that

every person in your life can

only give you a certain part of
all the thousands of different

colors that make your life whole.

So don't expect everything
from one or two people.

Sometimes some friendships
are just over purely books.

Some friendships could be just
over, hey, we You know, make

podcast and we just talk about it.

So have you have so many colors
that make you and so you have

to remember that there are

different people at different
levels of that spectrum who

will add to your life, right?

But you are the number one,
you are your best friend.

And if you can't support yourself, then
others really will be failing to do that

Prateek Panda: I think
that's a brilliant answer.

And you could have, like you said,
the best people around the world being

close to you, ready to take care of you.

But if you can't take care of yourself and
if you can't understand yourself, there's

only so much that others can do for you.

So spot on.

We'll switch gears a little
bit . One thing that you've done

really well, or you've at least had

multiple experiences in is setting up GTM
teams in different parts of the world.

You told a little bit about North
America, GCC, Southeast Asia.

Can you share a little bit
of your learnings and tips on

how to approach this problem?

I recently actually wrote
a piece on LinkedIn.

I have a lot of founders who
come to me and ask Hey, do you

know a good salesperson or a

marketing leader in North
America that we could hire?

And more often than not, I understand
that they've never really even tested the

waters out in the market in North America.

And they've achieved success in
their local market, which is great.

Very few people even achieve that.

But more often than not, I advise people
that you have to achieve that product

market fit in other markets as well.

Before you go hire people and
it's not really always okay, I'm

going to hire people and that's
going to solve the problem.

It's not.

You've done this a few times in
different parts of the world.

What's your learning and experience
being on how to, when do you go

hire more people in the GTM side?

And what's some best practices to do that?

Kausambi Manjita: There are two
parts to that answer and part one

is that if you are a new founder

or someone who's a little
younger in your career, right?

At that point a lot of your energy
and ability to experiment very fast.

And all of those are
working for you, right?

So what you should hence do is really go
out there, crack that region or function.

That's your number one job,
because you can, right?

And that's your advantage.

Your advantage is not hiring.

Your advantage is not your wealth
of experience to back on, right?

Your advantage is your ability to execute
the hell out of anybody else around you.

So leverage that.

And definitely try and do a lot of
things, like the person that I was

talking about, he's doing a lot of things.

He's a very young founder, right?

So go and do.

Crack that market in some form.

It need not be, your, I need
a million out of that region.

No, not necessarily, but whatever are
the signals, do you have a message

that resonates with the target persona?

Do you even know who's the target person?

Is it different from your
base region to that region?

First, second, do you have
a message that resonates?

A problem statement, a pain point
that resonates with that person, and

now are they willing to pay for it?

And then are you able to repeat
that across a certain, quantity

or, volume of repetitions, right?

Are you able to rinse
and repeat essentially?

So if that works, then yeah, you
should definitely now hire and

set up your team and all of that.

Right now, if you're an
experienced founder I would say

that what your advantage is your
ability to spot skills, right?

So that actually shifts quite dramatically
as you gain experience, you start seeing

a lot of patterns and you also see
a lot of things that haven't worked.

And some things that you see

Are when things work, you're
starting to see now patterns out

of things that are working, right?

So your wealth or your USP is that
you have this bank, a data bank,

whether it's intuitive or
it's like real frameworks.

It depends but do you have
something, you have intuition plus

a framework or set of frameworks.

So for you, it's about, can I find one,
can I understand now or hypothesize

essentially, understanding the market.

What would be the best
first steps to achieve that?

For example, in retail, we know by
experience that hey, retail works

a lot on partnerships first, right?

At least a mass of
retail works in that way.

It's a very complex ecosystem.

People don't have all the answers.

So they prefer to work with partners,
technology partners also to understand

what should they do next, right?

Or marketing partners and so on.

Now, within that, if you turn the
lens on to, let's say, Southeast Asia.

Very unlike India, they
are not very tech savvy.

They are a little afraid hands off.

And you going in as a technology
solution might not like nobody might

even know what do I use technology for.

So, your hypothesis, hence goes to that.

Being a service provider or something of
that sort might be a better go to market.

So as I said, as you grow older
to illustrate that, your ability

is to understand all these patterns
and rely on your experience.

So then you might be able
to actually say that my

best first win is actually
understanding this best GTM

strategy for day zero or day one.

And then probably getting someone who's
the closest to executing that strategy.

Could be yourself, could be someone in
your team, or it could be someone that

knew that partner with or
contract or maybe hire, right?

Preferably contract, but,
and then figure out hire.

So that is how I would think about it.

Prateek Panda: Awesome.

I think that's a great answer
and definitely food for

thought for a lot of people

who are in that zone and trying to
figure out, how to make that decision.

You also run a podcast I
believe it's called Shelf.

Can you tell us a little
bit more about it.

Kausambi Manjita: Again, it's a born
out of just loving to talk to people.

I love talking to people.

And I think someone said that,
why don't you start recording?

Because the conversation sounds fun.

To be very honest, none of the episodes

so far have done justice to the fun I
have when I meet people and talk to them.

So I'm thinking maybe I should
actually take it on the road.

And so Shelf on the road is something
that I'm seriously contemplating.

I travel a lot as you aware.

I'm thinking that's probably the
next phase of what I should do.

Maybe the podcast format, just plain
video recording might not be the best

for me, but I love meeting people.

As I said, when I get into a new place,
I always leave the place with at least

one or two people whom I have
forged a great connection with.

With whom I've been in touch
for years and beyond and who

just happened to be my friend.

Oh, my friend who lives in, Kyrgyzstan.

So there's always people all over the
world who I'm always in touch with.

My team was saying that you keep meeting
all these different, awesome, interesting

folks in commerce and, record some
of the learnings for us, because

otherwise we miss out on that

understanding of commerce in a
way, because commerce is so deep.

So it started out more with just
getting people to talk to our team.

That's how it started last year.

So we used to invite people and our
team used to join and they would just

ask questions and then, they would
learn a little bit about branding or

marketing or, how do I bundle better?

What are the pricing strategies I can use?

How can I think about running sales
during peak season or off season?

Literally.

And then we said that, okay,
let's convert it into webinars.

So we did that.

Then we moved to live streams
and then we said that, no, let's

actually make it a podcast.

So that's what I've been doing in this
year is recording it as a podcast.

But as I said, I have a feeling
that it's going to be more

like I went out for a coffee.

So it's more comedians
in car having coffee.

I think that's what it's going to move to.

Prateek Panda: All right, that'd be
fun actually, I miss that a lot as

well because pre COVID of course we
used to go to a lot of events and now

that's starting to come back again
and I get a chance to meet a lot of

people for a lot of different reasons.

Sometimes I wait to
plan every episode that

I want to record and it would be a
lot of fun to pull up your phone.

Have some recordings because a lot of
times, very interesting conversations

happen just serendipitously, right?

Kausambi Manjita: that is very true.

Yeah,

Prateek Panda: You could schedule
as many conversations as you want.

A lot of times, very insightful
observations come out when

you're least expecting it.

Kausambi Manjita: agreed.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, hopefully good luck.

If you do start that, I would
be definitely excited to watch.

As we get closer to the
end of the show, right?

The audience of this podcast likes
to understand more about, how

they are going to try to move,

what geography is going to work for them.

Of course, they want to be closer to
the market because you are serving

primarily the North American market.

Of course, you're exploring
new markets as well.

And because you're based in Canada, can
you give one or maybe multiple reasons

why somebody should be in Canada?

Kausambi Manjita: Yeah, again,
no cookie cutter reason why you

should be based out of Canada.

But one big thing is that there's a lot of
great talent and looks like a lot of them

are looking for good jobs as
a reality in Canada today.

So you can definitely get a lot of great
talent and there's so many Indians.

If you have not ever worked in an MNC
or, a multi region company if you are

not sure how to really manage
global teams from day one.

It's a great segue because you're
managing Indians in Canada.

It's a good starting point, right?

Just so much great talent there
who've just moved because they

feel Canada is a better place for
their family, for their future.

But maybe the job they're doing is not as
challenging and they're definitely looking

for an opportunity to grow super fast.

So that is a big yes in Canada.

And I think they're just tons of
people moving from U.S off to Canada

because of all the whole visa and

all the immigration policies in U.S or
who are moving from India to Canada.

Or not just from India, but
also a lot of like Asia and now

Middle East are moving to Canada.

So number one is because of the
kind of talent you'll get, right?

Number two is that.

AI, if you are, and I'm sure a lot
of you are thinking about leveraging

AI, it's just You know, one of the

Toronto university, if you
look back and you dig back

into the origins of AI in fact,

even OpenAI, one of the founders,
he studied in Toronto too, right?

Not everybody knows about
it, but it's a big AI hub.

So you'll get great PhDs.

You can talk to them, if you're
using applied AI as you learn

a lot about AI from folks

like that and be able to use them ahead
of time, or even think of how to leverage.

If you are building fundamental,
LLMs and whatnot, then I think

like you should definitely be

collaborating with such PhDs
from day one, and who knows

where your story moves, right?

So that's number two, that not a lot of
people are thinking from that perspective.

And I think three is proximity
to overall North America.

And it's also not very far
away from Europe, right?

So it's not a bad place where
you can centrally locate

yourself for that whole region

because U.S is just pretty much just
across the border to be very honest.

It's easier to go if you want
to expand into South America,

which is a huge opportunity.

It's not like flying
all the way from India.

It is definitely much easier to expand.

Europe is not very far.

If you're in French Canada, then, you
already have applied nativity in France.

So a lot of people that you work with,
can give you inroads into Europe.

Because a lot of
immigrants from Europe too.

So I think from that perspective of
being a nice centrally located, which

is not going to kill your budgets

because if you're a startup, you
definitely want to be conscious of that.

But also in terms of the location
where you can fly in and around

and expand out fairly quickly

into a very lucrative upcoming
region or one of the traditional

old regions of Europe.

So yeah, these are, I would
say three reasons why.

I think for me, folks, growing your
family and all of that, it gives you

everything that North America gives
you, United States of America, but

I think at least at the moment,

still far more safer and more
accommodating society and all of that.

So I think just in terms of safety
and peace of mind, it's definitely

a better place for people with kids.

Prateek Panda: Yeah.

That sounds good.

Kaus thank you so much for sharing
all of your experiences and

amazing observations and insights.

I'm sure, our listeners
will find this very helpful.

Thanks again for taking
time to join us on the show.

It was a pleasure talking to you and
learning so much from you and we'll go

ahead and share your social credentials
with our audience here so that they

can connect with you and continue to
stay in touch and learn more from you.

Kausambi Manjita: Feel free.

I'm always up for a chat and
a coffee as you might already

have guessed by the end of this.

If you have stayed till now till the
end of this episode, you will know

that I'm always up for a coffee.

So please hit me up and
Prateek, lovely meeting you.

The next time we are grabbing a coffee.

Prateek Panda: Sounds good Kaus.

Thank you so much.

Kausambi Manjita: Thank you.

Prateek Panda: And that
wraps up today's episode.

Before we sign off, I would like
to thank you for your support

and thanks for tuning in.

If you loved today's episode.

Then don't forget to subscribe to this
podcast and never miss an episode.

Be kind, be happy, challenge the norm.

I'll see you folks again for the next one.