Nitin Bajaj

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is Rahul Shah. Rahul, welcome on the show.

Rahul Shah

Thank you for having me, Nitin.

Nitin Bajaj

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with the mystery question. Who is Rahul?

Rahul Shah

So Rahul, is a passionate, professional. You know, I’ve I’ve been in this area, in this industry, where I’ve seen a lot of pain points. And through my own personal experiences, I really felt there is a better way of doing things, and that’s why I created ForecastEra. I really practice what I preach, and, what you’ll see in me is very transparent, but at the same time, we’re here to do big things. My goal in life is to give from what I’ve learned over my professional and personal career. So that’s what, Rahul is.

Nitin Bajaj

Awesome. Well, let’s talk a little more about ForecastEra. Tell it tell us what the mission is and also what’s the size and scale of your operations right now and what are you aiming to achieve in the next few months?

Rahul Shah

Yeah. So our, ForecastEra really is trying to empower companies in growing through data.

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

Rahul Shah

It’s trying to help break the silos between sales and finance teams. And at the end of the day, it’s helping, achieve better results from a company’s revenue growth. Right? So if we look at, you know, the recent times, we’ve seen that the the market has changed quite a bit and what we are seeing in the market is people are relying on data to make decisions, you know, invariably because companies have silos, what’s happening is that the data is not real time and because of that, we’re seeing that there’s a lot of growth opportunities that are missed by companies. So what we’re trying to do here is really help, you know, the enterprises we work with to help them power that revenue growth, break the silos within sales and then between sales and finance, so they can predictably drive revenue growth.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s awesome and maybe you know in a few minutes we can talk about specific examples. I’m curious about wanting to know why do this? You could have done many different things. What peaked your interest in this particular area and what made you go in and because what you’re doing is not easy. So tell us why.

Rahul Shah

That’s a that’s a great question, Nitin, right? So I was, having a good corporate job, as a various CFO of a large business unit. What I really felt passionate about is helping companies grow the business. As a finance professional, sure, I had a lot of opportunities to, you know, either cut cost or rationalize the footprint, but what I really found myself enjoying the most is in helping our business, the leadership that I was working with, and helping them drive meaningful growth for the company. I truly believe growth solves all problems. Right? If you have growth, people in your company can grow. There’s a positive environment around you, and everyone wants to win. And so growth is about winning, and that’s really what I I saw that that’s that’s a big piece of what’s missing because of all the corporate silos. And just with my own professional career, I’ve spent a number of years working with sales leaders and finance leaders. And the why now really becomes because we’re at a point that no other point in the end, in in kind of the history where data is really powering decisions. And if you don’t have real time data to make the right decisions for your company, it has a huge impact. The impact is not just on the individual or a leader, but it’s it’s got the downstream impacts. Right? So what I really wanted to do was with my professional experience, I wanted to break the silos. I wanted to create a software that really helps companies drive predictable revenue growth. And it’s a it’s a mix of what I’ve done looking at where the industry is and the timing just couldn’t be better because, you know, as you look at the last couple of years, we’ve really come come out to a place where, you know, Wall Street is penalizing companies for missing their revenue growth. And what we are doing is using data and technology and AI which has now become stable stakes to solve this particular problem.

Nitin Bajaj

True. Give us an example of, you know, how what you have built is helping and what’s your typical sweet spot when it comes to a customer?

Rahul Shah

Yeah. So we are helping, mid market and enterprise clients really drive revenue growth. And what we found in the marketplace is revenue operations is sort of a new function that was recently created in the last couple of years. And revenue operations’ job is to look at that lead to revenue cycle holistically, and that’s kind of where we feel, you know, our customers really are trying to put process and technology with the growth of that role. And what we are trying to do is help them fulfill that mission. Right? So good example, is we’ve helped the client, achieve, you know, a great deal of forecast accuracy and reduce the time their salespeople and finance people were spending in creating a forecast. So what I’ve seen is our customers, and this is the best quote I love, is they said our software not only impacted the rep forecast accuracy and revenue growth, but we brought about a culture change in their company. Right? So they said our, software Rahul them align their sales teams, finance teams. And at the end of the day, we actually help them change the culture of the company. So I personally feel

Nitin Bajaj

Sweet.

Rahul Shah

A kudos like that was really, you know, something remarkable for us.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s awesome. That’s great to hear. Now as a business yourself, I’m curious to know what’s the one big challenge you’re facing?

Rahul Shah

Yeah, so I’ll say more than a business, right, just being running a company. I feel alignment of goals within the different departments is something that that I always continue to work on. What I realize is, there’s a corporate vision and a goal, and every person in the company needs to understand if there’s doing something, is that in alignment with the company goal or not? And sometimes it’s easier said than done because you kind of have a strategy session. You tell everybody these are our goals, but then somewhere down the line with this 3rd and 4th layers of the company, they lose that. So just getting that alignment every now and then is really one of the biggest challenges. The other thing I’ve seen is having too many priorities. Right? So we all think of pivoting, and we have different priorities at different points in time. And what I found is no more than 3 priorities is what somebody can manage. So it’s okay to repivot, but making sure that we stick to no more than 3 or 4 things that we expect of our team and their teams to do at any one point in time.

Nitin Bajaj

Makes sense. If everything is important, nothing is important.

Rahul Shah

Exactly. Now

Nitin Bajaj

on the flip side of challenges come opportunities, what’s the one that you’re most excited about?

Rahul Shah

So the one we are most excited about is right now, we’re working on a large enterprise transformation.

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

Rahul Shah

And this is truly where we’re putting all our skills, our project management, team, and also putting our next generation AI to use. And where what we’ve really done is we’re helping companies identify growth drivers, using AI, using intent data, using our AI machine learning algorithms. And I feel like that’s gonna be a game changer because nobody in the industry has done this. What we are essentially doing is we’re helping salespeople identify opportunities that they didn’t think existed. And especially as we think of, like, the recession scenario or a downturn, it’s very important to drive more business from your existing accounts. The question always becomes the timing. Right? So, you know and is this a priority? My product I’m trying to sell, is that a priority for my customers?

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

Rahul Shah

And it’s a priority for one customer at some point, but how do our software is helping them understand this is a priority, and this is a a number one priority for a company that needs our software, and, you know, their clients need their software. So that’s kind of where we feel really good about the opportunity we’re working on to really make a a game changing impact.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s super exciting. So one, you’re helping identify within your customer base what are good upsell and cross sell opportunities. And then within that, when is the right time to approach your customers? And then also I’m thinking along with that, you also might be able to highlight who’s a churn risk and you may want to pay more attention to so you don’t lose them. So retaining is better than losing a customer and then going and finding a new one.

Rahul Shah

Exactly.

Nitin Bajaj

Now you’re a forecasting guru, you love to look ahead. I’m gonna take out some muscles that’ll help you look in the past and ask you to share a couple of examples. One where things did not work out as you had planned and became a lesson learned. And another example where things did work out beyond your expectations and invite you to brag a little bit.

Rahul Shah

Yeah. So the one where, you know, things didn’t work out and I would say the power of persistence

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

Rahul Shah

And never souring a relationship. So we had worked on a RFP. We spent 3 or 4 months. We did a proof of concept, and we were about to sign the deal. But as it happens, somebody else came in the mix, and all our efforts got wasted. We didn’t get selected as the final vendor. But what we said is this is a lesson for us. We did not lose, you know, our relationship with that individual. Mhmm. That individual came and know he did not know us. And then about 8 months later, we got a call from him, and he asked us to come back. And he said, you know, it was not about you losing the deal, but how you took losing the deal and still maintaining that relationship or friendship. You know, try to be a friend of him. Mhmm. And, you know, never showing that we lost the deal. Right? Is it’s just the part of investing in relationships and being persistent is kind of where I would say was a great lesson for us.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s awesome. Now this brings me to my favorite part of the show. We call this the one line life lessons, And I would love to hear your one line life lessons. These are simple, profound, short, but oftentimes I found them personally to be life changing. So we’d love to hear yours.

Rahul Shah

Yeah. I would say, like, I believe in in this one, I think it was Tom Brady. Right? Stay hungry, stay humble. Right? It’s, you know, in life as you look at it, if you’re hungry, and this is what I do also when I look at interviewing candidates. Right? You know, I tell them if you come to the table, obviously, you have the technical aptitude or whatever we’re interviewing you for the job. But if you’re not hungry, you’re not gonna help us achieve great results. And, especially, so you think of us as a young company, that hunger and drive is one of the most important things that I’ve I’ve seen, and being humble at the same time. Right? So that I think is really important for success of any young company.

Nitin Bajaj

Do you have more you would like to share?

Rahul Shah

Yeah. So I mean, if you’re again, right, if you don’t play the VIN, you don’t play at all. Right? So you wanna put your best game on, and, you know, no matter what the odds are, I always think of it as a learning opportunity. Right? You know? If you’re not in it to win, though, the odds are not in our favor. If we don’t play, we won’t get the lessons. And we when we are playing, let’s play and give it our 100%, and let’s make sure that we are in it to win it. That’s kinda what the way I look at it.

Nitin Bajaj

So true. Give it give it your all. Right? Go Yes. Go for the big ones, and you may miss some, but the ones you do hit, they’ll they’ll take you where you want to be and beyond.

Rahul Shah

The next one I would say is, if you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes. Yes. But if you learn from them, you’re a better person, right? I truly believe that nobody’s flawless, we’ve all made mistakes. And as we kind of look past in the past, it’s really what have we learned from them, right? And it’s kind of easier said than done, but I think, learning really makes you a better person. And if you made a mistake in the past, if you learn from it, the next time you try to award it, that’s something that’s really gonna help you change, the way you are as a person, I would say.

Nitin Bajaj

I love it.

Rahul Shah

The other one I would say is again, right, if you wanna perform at the highest level, you have to prepare at the highest level. Right? So a lot of times in life, we think people just got lucky, you know, they’ve they’ve really made it. But if you really look at the best performing, entrepreneurs, CEOs, athletes, They really put their level of preparation, and you kind of have to earn your stripes is what I would say. Right? And there is really no shortcut to, you know, hard work and putting in your best, and preparing at the best at every level. So that’s another thing that I would say I live by.

Nitin Bajaj

So true. And you may not always get the opportunity to show what you have come prepared with, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that you should be prepared and and even over prepared in some cases.

Rahul Shah

Absolutely. Yeah. So the final one I would say is the when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Right? So it’s really as as a young company, as entrepreneur again, right, you have to have the grit, to be in it. You’re gonna have your good days. You’re gonna have your bad days. But when you look at the bad days, and that’s really when you really wanna make yourself mentally tough, and you wanna really have that grit to keep moving on, keep doing the right things. And, you know, I truly believe if you do the right things, the results will come. They may not come in the short term, but they’ll definitely come in the long term. So those are a couple of ones that that I really believe in, Nitin, that have helped me in my personal and professional life.

Nitin Bajaj

Raul, thank you for sharing those one line life lessons, and I personally resonate with every single one of them. And for our audience, we have an entire collection at onelinelifelessons.com and wherever you socialize digitally. Rahul, thank you once again for making the time to be with us, to share your journey with us, And congratulations again on building a company that’s thriving and helping other companies thrive. We really appreciate you and congratulations.

Rahul Shah

Thank you for having me, Nathan.