Founders of enterprise software and SaaS startups that ET spoke with confirmed active hiring as access to talent across functions of engineering, product, sales and marketing of technology products has increased significantly in recent months.
Hevo Data, a Peak XV Partners-backed data management SaaS startup, was finding it hard to even interview candidates just 6-9 months ago as they demanded to know possible offer and associated pay scales even before being interviewed, said Manish Jethani, cofounder and CEO of Hevo Data.
“But now, candidates are not seeing whether you are a unicorn or if you have a fancy office,” he said. “They come and ask about the people they are going to work with (and) how they are going to operate in their role.”
Enterprise software founders attributed this change in attitude to mass layoffs by many late- and growth-stage startups as well as legacy technology companies.
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At the same time, several enterprise SaaS companies are hiring talent as they prepare for market expansion and product development. The industry has the advantage of being the largest chunk of upstarts in attracting venture capital funding.In the second quarter of 2023 ended June, the enterprise software category managed to pull in 62 funding rounds, exceeding other categories such as edtech, mobility, and ecommerce, as per Tracxn data. In the previous quarter ended March, the sector was second, with 73 funding deals, to B2B ecommerce that had 88 deals.
Kapture CX, which closed its first fundraise last month after nine years of bootstrapping, currently has 220 staffers on roll, about 35% of whom were hired in the last six months.
“Market dynamics have changed significantly; candidates are showing a lot more focus on long-term sustainability on roles than salary jumps,” Sheshgiri Kamath, founder and CEO of Kapture CX, told ET. “About 12 staffers in the recent past have joined back after 2-3 years of obnoxious salary jumps at growth- and late-stage startups,” he said.
Kapture CX, which is currently expanding business in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, has made use of multiple layoffs carried out by startups in these new regions, Kamath said.
He said there has also been a resume inflow of candidates who are worried about job security in their current roles as their companies have carried out more than one round of layoffs.
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Candidates are also increasingly choosy about startups they join, asking founders questions about cash runway and growth projections of the companies for quarters ahead, over and above questions about their salary packages.
While finding good talent in engineering roles has always been the hardest challenge as compared to other roles, there is now a good pool of talent available at reasonable pay scales, said Subramanian Viswanathan, founder and CEO of Disprz, a SaaS-based corporate learning and skilling startup.
About 12-18 months ago, to hire a senior or lead engineer meant adjusting to candidate expectations of a 60-70% hike from current salaries, he told ET. “That has tempered now, with 20-25% hikes and even 15% being par for the course now.”
The contractor market has also softened. “Most laying off companies laid off the contractors first…we also did that,” Viswanathan said. “These contractors are now available and at little more reasonable rates. You’re now able to get mid-to-entry-level contractors at about $20 per hour from regions of Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia,” he said.
Disprz, which closed a $30 million fundraise earlier this week, employs 300 people in total, having grown the numbers about 25% in the past one year. It plans to hire 75 more members by the year-end.
Akanksha Malik, founder of Growth360, which helps startups hire mid-to-senior level roles, said it’s still not easy to attract the right talent as good talent is generally retained by companies.
“However, what has changed is that the obnoxious hikes that talent was asking for in 2022 has come down. So, now it’s more realistic,” she said. “Also, job shopping has come down considerably. So, this takes off a lot of stress on the leadership team.”
While good talent is easier to access currently, it is still hard to recruit them, startup founders said.
“For you to lose a candidate, they need just one better offer than yours, right? They don’t need 10 offers,” said Jethani of Hevo Data. “Good talent will always find a place for themselves.”