Are we fundable? Software for automating manufacturing workflows.
Would YC even look at a company like ours?
Genuinely asking because I’m getting mixed opinions.
We’re a bootstrapped manufacturing software company from India. Started in 2017. Profitable. Around ₹3 Cr revenue this year (~$350k), and roughly 3x growth over the last couple of years.
We build software used inside factories. Started with MES-type use cases, but over time it has expanded into production monitoring, OEE, traceability, quality workflows, maintenance workflows, machine integrations, and other plant digitization use cases.
Customers are in automotive, electronics manufacturing, and industrial sectors.
One thing I want to clarify upfront: this is not a services/staff augmentation business.
We already have a product platform running across multiple customers. Deployments are handled by our delivery team, not founders. Yes, implementations involve configuration, integrations, and some customization because factories are messy and every plant has its own realities. But that’s true for most enterprise software.
A typical customer journey for us:
started with 1 production line, then 5, then eventually 20 lines on the same platform.
Now the obvious pushback is: this space already has big players.
Tulip has raised huge funding. Then there’s Siemens, SAP, Rockwell, and many MES players in India too.
So I’m not pretending we discovered some untouched category.
Another thing we’re working on internally is using AI to reduce deployment/customization effort. One of the painful parts of industrial software is customer-specific configuration and workflow changes. We’re experimenting with AI-assisted workflow generation / configuration support / faster customization to make deployments increasingly productized.
Today our growth is mostly referrals, repeat business, and founder network.
No proper outbound sales, GTM, channel strategy, content engine, no repeatable lead generation.
If we stay bootstrapped, we’ll probably keep growing, but slowly, mostly in India.
If we raise, the goal would be building an actual growth engine and eventually expanding beyond India.
One thought I keep having:
if the exact same product with similar customer traction was selling into the US at US industrial software pricing (say closer to Tulip-type ACVs), the revenue profile would look very different.
So my actual question:
Does YC see something like this as:
- a scalable vertical SaaS business
- too implementation-heavy
- too crowded
- more of a strategic investor / PE type business
- or something potentially venture fundable with the right positioning
Would appreciate honest feedback, especially from people who’ve seen enterprise / industrial SaaS up close.