Sep 29, 2026 · 57 min · 10 segments
Madhav Bhandari joined Storylane at $2M ARR with no funding, a late entry into the category, and competitors holding hundreds of millions. In this episode of Real Seekers After Truth he takes host…
Madhav BhandariGuestNick MasonHost
So the product was good because, like, the CEO comes from a very product specific, uh, background.
Uh, he's-- you know, this was like his third company and, uh, and then, um, and then actually I knew the product was good.
I mean, every company claims that is the case, but like, it was pretty clear that in two years these guys went from nine hundred K to two million.
The next thing was when we looked at sort of the buyer data, right? Like, what was persistently the problem was either we were not in the buyer consideration set.
Um, so typically like if you take an average example, somebody putting a thread on like a popular marketing leaders group on, you know, Slack or somewhere that, "Hey, which is the best time automation platform?" Like Storyline would not be as prominent there or would not show up at all, right? So typically the we-- you know, the buyer would not have us in their consideration or we'd be like the third vendor.
And if you're the third vendor, you're basically fighting the first vendor's narrative, right? Like whatever they said.
Uh, that basically, uh, involved like what we needed to do was, uh, uh, be A, you know, first thing is be in that consideration set and then, then B is like, uh, phase two is to become the first vendor in that set, right? And uh, a lot of that growth was going to come from, uh, not competing in that five percent where all of these, this competition was like being very aggressive in.
And, uh, to go after that, you know, like that vast majority evergreen market which was not even aware about like-- This is more specific to our category because it's like it was a low awareness category about, uh, three, four years ago and, uh, there was a lot of education that was needed and there was a vast greenfield opportunity on the other side.
So how do we enter into, uh, the buyer consideration set? And the first thing I also looked at there was, uh, i-it's kind of funny and a little ironic that, uh, typically if you look at your ICPs they maybe follow, uh, like these 30, 40 voices in their world and they sort of live in that, in that bubble, a lot of them at least.
Um, and if you can somehow, uh, penetrate yourself into that circle, right, and become one of the three options being recommended there, it actually has quite a lot of, uh, wide impact and implications and then like, you know, it, it sort of starts compounding.
How do we enter into that 30, 40 whatever social cloud group? And there were a few things that we did there to get, uh, get to that.
So that's the question about how do we get there, right? So typically if you have a brand that-- Well, if you don't really have a brand and if you reach out to any of these, you know, folks with a lot of social clout, uh, they'd be like, um, "I haven't heard of you," you know, and they'll either like make it very difficult to actually work together, whether it's high pricing like prohibitive pricing, uh, let's say that or uh, it'd be more like, um, uh, won't reply back to you or just won't, uh, do this, right? So how do you get their attention? And so this was, um, sort of an idea that, that-- I mean, I don't think it formulated here at Storyline.
Um, so, uh, you know what? Uh, maybe I would say about ten years ago I used to work at a company called Hubstaff and uh, uh, back then it was like, um, you know, at that time there were like much lesser B2B players in this space and uh, everybody used to follow everybody.
Um, and you know, I, I would constantly look at Basecamp and see that they would go against the grain on everything.
So the product was good because, like, the CEO comes from a very product specific, uh, background.
Uh, he's-- you know, this was like his third company and, uh, and then, um, and then actually I knew the product was good.
I mean, every company claims that is the case, but like, it was pretty clear that in two years these guys went from nine hundred K to two million.
The next thing was when we looked at sort of the buyer data, right? Like, what was persistently the problem was either we were not in the buyer consideration set.
Um, so typically like if you take an average example, somebody putting a thread on like a popular marketing leaders group on, you know, Slack or somewhere that, "Hey, which is the best time automation platform?" Like Storyline would not be as prominent there or would not show up at all, right? So typically the we-- you know, the buyer would not have us in their consideration or we'd be like the third vendor.
And if you're the third vendor, you're basically fighting the first vendor's narrative, right? Like whatever they said.
Uh, that basically, uh, involved like what we needed to do was, uh, uh, be A, you know, first thing is be in that consideration set and then, then B is like, uh, phase two is to become the first vendor in that set, right? And uh, a lot of that growth was going to come from, uh, not competing in that five percent where all of these, this competition was like being very aggressive in.
And, uh, to go after that, you know, like that vast majority evergreen market which was not even aware about like-- This is more specific to our category because it's like it was a low awareness category about, uh, three, four years ago and, uh, there was a lot of education that was needed and there was a vast greenfield opportunity on the other side.
So how do we enter into, uh, the buyer consideration set? And the first thing I also looked at there was, uh, i-it's kind of funny and a little ironic that, uh, typically if you look at your ICPs they maybe follow, uh, like these 30, 40 voices in their world and they sort of live in that, in that bubble, a lot of them at least.
Um, and if you can somehow, uh, penetrate yourself into that circle, right, and become one of the three options being recommended there, it actually has quite a lot of, uh, wide impact and implications and then like, you know, it, it sort of starts compounding.
How do we enter into that 30, 40 whatever social cloud group? And there were a few things that we did there to get, uh, get to that.
So that's the question about how do we get there, right? So typically if you have a brand that-- Well, if you don't really have a brand and if you reach out to any of these, you know, folks with a lot of social clout, uh, they'd be like, um, "I haven't heard of you," you know, and they'll either like make it very difficult to actually work together, whether it's high pricing like prohibitive pricing, uh, let's say that or uh, it'd be more like, um, uh, won't reply back to you or just won't, uh, do this, right? So how do you get their attention? And so this was, um, sort of an idea that, that-- I mean, I don't think it formulated here at Storyline.
Um, so, uh, you know what? Uh, maybe I would say about ten years ago I used to work at a company called Hubstaff and uh, uh, back then it was like, um, you know, at that time there were like much lesser B2B players in this space and uh, everybody used to follow everybody.
Um, and you know, I, I would constantly look at Basecamp and see that they would go against the grain on everything.
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