6 Counter-Intuitive Go-to-Market Lessons from Included AI’s Growth Journey
The path from zero to product-market fit rarely follows a straight line. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Raghu Gollamudi, CEO of Included AI, shared how his company achieved 150% quarter-over-quarter growth by challenging conventional wisdom about B2B go-to-market strategy.
- Don’t Scale Until You Have Founder-Led Sales Success
The most expensive mistake startups make is scaling prematurely. “Multiple times during the time I thought I need to scale. And I did scale one time and it fell flat because customers were not resonating with what we built,” Raghu revealed. Instead of rushing to build a sales team, he advocates for a methodical approach: “Having a good structure around validating your product market fit and then seeing few deals go through Founder let sales, and then figuring out how to scale.”
- Let Market Downturns Guide Your Product Evolution
When the economic downturn hit and their customers stopped hiring, Included AI could have doubled down on their initial DEI recruitment product. Instead, they listened when customers asked, “Can you do the same thing that you did for recruitment, for retention and calibration for employees?” This pivot led them to discover that “DI tech by itself does not make sense because DI tech needs to be embedded into the HR analytics aspect.”
- Challenge Assumptions About “Dead” Sales Channels
While many B2B SaaS companies focus exclusively on digital marketing, Included AI found unexpected success with cold calling. “I hate getting sales calls, but that is working for us,” Raghu noted. The key insight was understanding their buyer’s behavior: “The problem that we are facing is that the buyer, who is essentially CHROs, they don’t have time to read these emails or they don’t have time to go and read content.”
- Use AI as a Complement, Not a Replacement
In the rush to embrace AI, many companies build black-box solutions. Included AI took a different approach: “What we do is it’s more like a complementary feature as opposed to automatic decision making feature,” Raghu explained. Their platform identifies potential issues but lets HR professionals make the final decisions, building trust through transparency.
- Leverage Category Creation Through Strategic Timing
Included AI’s initial launch coincided with a massive surge in Chief Diversity Officer roles, similar to how GDPR drove demand for Chief Privacy Officers. As Raghu observed, “This was like a deja vu moment for me.” By recognizing this pattern, they positioned themselves to capture the growing market while avoiding the pitfalls of being too early or too late to a category.
- Focus on Cash Preservation During Product-Market Fit Search
The hardest lesson Raghu learned was about cash management: “The biggest challenge that I had was during this whole course of two and a half years, there have been multiple times where I felt I had a good product market fit.” His advice to founders? “Cash is king. So hold on to the cash” until you have genuine, validated product-market fit.
These lessons culminated in Included AI’s current growth trajectory, with the company “on track to essentially close our first quarter million dollar deal.” The key was patience and methodical execution rather than rushing to scale.
For B2B founders, the takeaway isn’t just about specific tactics but about challenging conventional wisdom. As Raghu advises, “Don’t get overexcited. When something you feel is good, validate it. Make sure that customers are resonating with it.” Sometimes the most effective go-to-market strategies are the ones that seem counter-intuitive at first glance.