Inai’s success story: turning threats into opportunities
We enjoy sharing the success stories of the businesses we've helped establish, and Inai is one of them.
Inai's objective was to create a platform that would allow businesses to easily make cross-border payments via an API, rather than purchasing expensive payment gateways or engaging developers to implement those manual integrations. In this story, Anta Pattabiraman, current CEO and Co-founder of Inai, describes the company's history, driving force, biggest fear, and also shares his best advice for entrepreneurs just starting out.
What and why Inai?
In the time businesses take to do all the manual integrations needed to make cross-border payments, they likely lose a lot of resources and manpower —which is what Inai's founders Anta Pattabiraman and Karthik Narayanan (Co-founder and CTO of Inai) faced when their own eCommerce venture started taking off. This was a huge pain point, but instead of waiting for something to happen, and the problem to be magically solved, they decided to take matters into their own hands. This is how the idea of Inai was born: to create the only payment integration that businesses require to take online payments globally. Inai currently offers a unified API that connects to multiple payment rails, fraud, tax, and BI tools, as well as a no-code dashboard that allows clients to localize the checkout experience, manage subscriptions, consolidate their payment stack, and much more — all in one platform. Inai incorporated in the US through Firstbase.io in 2020 and by 2021 they had already entered the YC summer program. Recently, they have also raised $4 million in capital and are expanding faster than ever before!
What’s Inai’s company culture and why is it so important for them?
Anta Pattabiraman, the current CEO and Co-founder of Inai, believes that corporate culture is critical for long-term success. As a result, they established their ideals right from the start of the business and have adhered to them ever since. They focus heavily on meritocracy, excellence, customer empathy, and ownership. They are a remote-first, diverse team of people operating across three continents, which is why employing people who share similar values is critical to their success. All employees are introduced to the company's values during their onboarding process and at all team meetings.
Can fear be turned into motivation, and what’s Inai’s CEO's biggest fear?
Throughout the process of growing his business, every entrepreneur has several fears. The worst fear of every founder, according to Pattabiraman, is running out of capital or cash flow before reaching product-market fit. Fears do not need to be overestimated though. Having your fear clear and in mind, can help you turn it into a motivator and manage it easily. Inai is accomplishing this by managing the company’s capital cautiously from the seed stage.
Success and advice
Pattabiraman's greatest achievement thus far has been building and scaling the company. He recognizes that there is still a long way to go, but he is pleased with what they have accomplished and learned so far.
“Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle and a 10-year commitment at the very least. Be prepared mentally and financially for the same. Having a strong support system be it in the form of family, co-founder(s), advisors, or early employees can make a material impact on your state of mind and in turn on the success/failure of your venture,” Pattabiraman recommends.
Thoughts on Firstbase.io
The company formation itself was seamless and quick, they did everything in a matter of days," adds Pattabiraman.
What’s next?
In terms of what they want to achieve next, Inai hopes to grow to the point where they are supporting thousands of merchants worldwide and assisting them in optimizing conversions and costs at checkout. They are driven to keep going and expanding because they understand that any challenge can be turned into an opportunity. Nonetheless, this is how Inai was born, so don't be afraid of facing the discomfort!
Are you ready to ride the success wave together with Inai?