About
As the founder and CEO of Ratio, I am on a mission to reinvent the way that recurring…
Articles by Ashish
-
Why Apple Exits BNPL and What that Means for SaaS
Why Apple Exits BNPL and What that Means for SaaS
Less than two years after introducing Apple Pay Later, its own Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service, Apple has decided to…
5 Comments -
Are Millennials lazy or busy?
Are Millennials lazy or busy?
There’s been a lot written about millennials and their work habits. Regardless of what you think, there is one truth…
10 Comments -
Welcome to the party Salesforce!
Welcome to the party Salesforce!
Salesforce finally admitted what we’ve all known for a long time -- CRM or any enterprise software was not built for…
4 Comments
Activity
13K followers
-
Ashish Srimal shared thisAshish Srimal shared thisHonored that our Senior Design project, BridgeIDE, placed 1st place in our Computer Engineering session at the 2026 Engineering Conference at Santa Clara University. BridgeIDE was built to make computer science classrooms more accessible and efficient by simplifying the development setup process and giving students a shared environment to code, collaborate, and learn without the usual configuration barriers. Grateful to have worked alongside Jeshwin Prince, William Zumbolo, and Arnav Gupta throughout this experience. Excited for what’s ahead as we get closer to graduation!
-
Ashish Srimal shared thisCongratulations to my amazing daughter!Ashish Srimal shared thisI am so happy to share that following my graduation from Santa Clara University with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering, I will be joining Xperi Inc. as a Technical Project Manager! Excited for this next chapter and everything ahead!
-
Ashish Srimal shared thisFintech Meetup 2026 is later this month and I'll be there! Will you? Save on your ticket here: https://lnkd.in/gHWwJfVH Fintech Meetup
-
Ashish Srimal shared thisIf you’re thinking about a billing rebuild, here’s a gut check: is Stripe the problem—or is it everything around it? In my experience, underwriting, flexible terms, and the quote-to-cash handoff create the drag far more than payments do.𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀? 𝗢𝗿 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁. In my article, I lay out the pragmatic route I use: keep Stripe, and layer the pieces you’re missing. Here’s what I walk through (plain English): - Adding real-time buyer underwriting so approvals don’t stall. - Offering “pay over time” right in the quote while you’re paid Day-1. - Automating quote → bill → collect so Sales isn’t re-keying invoices. Why now: pricing’s messy (milestones, ramps, usage hybrids). Your stack has to flex without a rip-and-replace. If you’re weighing new vs. expansion motions, ACV mix, or seasonality, I map the trade-offs and where teams get the biggest lift. Read the guide: https://lnkd.in/gEr4Yppx #stripe #Billing #Pay-over-time #BNPL #Quote-to-Cash #SaaS #TechnologyStripe Billing Alternatives or Simple Extension? Choose What You Need - Ratio BlogStripe Billing Alternatives or Simple Extension? Choose What You Need - Ratio Blog
-
Ashish Srimal reposted thisAshish Srimal reposted this😬 Pam (Sales): “If we offer terms, we close today.” Finance: “We can't offer terms - we need upfront payment.” Ratio: “You both can have it.” - Sales offers flexible terms right in the quote - Finance gets paid Day-1 (no 30/60/90 wait, no monthly drip) - Buyer picks a schedule—price holds, deal closes Everyone gets what they want. 👉 See how: https://lnkd.in/gtWcwVtG #SaaSSales #QuoteToCash #BNPL #RevOps #FinanceHumor
-
Ashish Srimal shared thisCapital is tight in 2025. Is equity your only move? I broke down a few alternatives in my Forbes piece—and I’m curious where these land for your team: ✅ Sales Growth or Market expansion is top priority → buyer-friendly BNPL-style terms ✅ Predictable cycles → bank revolver ✅ Expensive equity + very strong growth → non-dilutive (RBF, true-sale/AR) ✅ Lumpy enterprise cash + spiking DSO → AR/invoice financing ✅ Timing issues (not price) → buyer-friendly BNPL-style terms The questions leaders should be asking: • Do we start with motion (new vs. expansion), ACV mix, and seasonality? • Which metrics matter most—Growth, CAC payback, gross margin, DSO? • What pilot could prove/disprove a path in 30 days? Sometimes the best option isn’t “cheapest” but the one that speeds deals and shortens cash conversion—without boxing in the buyer. 👉 What’s actually working for you in 2025? Full piece here → https://lnkd.in/gWikB2zQ #BNPL #SaaS #RBF #Capital #financing #Growth #Technology #RoboticsFive Working Capital Financing Methods For Tech Leaders In 2025Five Working Capital Financing Methods For Tech Leaders In 2025
-
Ashish Srimal shared this#finance leaders - Check out our webinar on how to support your growth most profitably. #BNPL #Tech #AI #SAAS #Robotics #SoftwareAshish Srimal shared thisAs a tech executive with a focus on finance, we wanted to invite you to our masterclass to end cash-flow bottlenecks, eliminate discounting pressures, and boost your revenue by 20%.
-
Ashish Srimal shared this💡 Is "payment flexibility" hurting your SaaS enterprise? Letting customers pay over time feels like a win: ✔️ Close deals faster. ✔️ Close more deals. But here’s the catch: ⚠️ Cash flow tightens, slowing your ability to scale. ⚠️ Bad debt piles up, eating into your margins. ⚠️ Teams chase payments, losing focus on growth and renewals. I unpack all of this in my latest #Forbes piece. Plus, I share simple and actionable ways to fix it. Curious? Let’s connect—drop a comment or send me a DM. #BNPL #BusinessStrategy #Growth #ForbesTechnologyCouncil https://lnkd.in/gQHnSWCRIs Payment Flexibility Hurting Your Business In Ways You Didn’t Know?Is Payment Flexibility Hurting Your Business In Ways You Didn’t Know?
-
Ashish Srimal shared thisAs we wrap up another incredible year at Ratio, I would like to extend my thanks and warmest holiday wishes to our amazing employees, customers, partners, investors, well-wishers and followers. We look forward to transforming how vendors and customers - buy, sell and finance technology with our #intelligent #revenueoperatingsystem #HappyHolidays, #SaaS, #BNPL, #AI
Ashish Srimal commented on a post
2d
Jim Kaskade -
1) How far does the scarcity in the nuts and bolts of AI (engergy, chips, memory and data centers etc) keep driving the pricing for these models?
2) Do they need to be price regulated or will competion do the work (ie open weight models)?
3) What happens to overall software market as these AI model’s continue to make it easier to build and keep taking a larger margin?
-
Ashish Srimal liked thisAshish Srimal liked thisThoma Bravo lost roughly $5.1 billion on Medallia. Momentive Software agreed to sell for $4.1 billion in 2021 and went for $1.5 billion two years later. Qualtrics left the public markets at $12.5 billion, and the people who study the trade expect the exit to come in flat or lower. The standard reading treats these as three separate stories: too much debt, bad timing, a tough market for software. I think they are one story, and it deserves a more uncomfortable read. The most sophisticated investors in enterprise software have examined the business of asking customers how they feel, and they are leaving it. I led the team at Satmetrix that co-created the Net Promoter Score, so this is not a critique from outside. The survey model was the right instrument when data was scarce and analysis was expensive. Neither is true anymore. Response rates have been in structural decline for two decades, the customers who still answer are the wrong sample, and AI now does the analytical work that justified the whole apparatus at close to zero marginal cost. The capital markets have priced this. Most operating budgets have not. A sorting has started, into companies that move and companies that renew the old model by default, and the renewals are the interesting part. Action requires a business case and a sponsor. Inaction requires nothing, which is why nobody ever writes the memo that says we considered whether our measurement model still works and chose not to ask. If you own retention or expansion revenue, that memo is being written anyway, in your numbers, one quarter at a time. Today I'm starting a series that makes this argument properly, with names attached.
-
Ashish Srimal liked this
-
Ashish Srimal reacted on thisAshish Srimal reacted on thisThomas M. Siebel, founder of C3 AI, reflects on a remarkable five decades at the forefront of the technology industry, sharing what it meant to work alongside pioneers like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove. Looking back on a career spent helping shape the digital revolution, he describes the privilege of learning from some of the most influential business leaders in history—and the opportunities that made it possible. Watch his full conversation with Condoleezza Rice for Only in America: https://lnkd.in/gf9HeW8B
-
Ashish Srimal reacted on thisAshish Srimal reacted on thisQ2 results: 480% YoY AI ARR growth. Amplify, our agentic AI platform, is now powering the majority of Outreach’s revenue growth. Nearly two years ago, I took on the CEO role at Outreach and we made a deliberate decision to reposition the company for the shift Kate Clark describes in her recent The Wall Street Journal article. The old SaaS playbook is changing quickly. Customers increasingly want AI agents that can do work, not just software that helps people do it. Companies that adapt can create an entirely new growth curve. Those that don’t risk being left behind. This transformation is not easy. Outreach began as a sales engagement SaaS company. Today, we’re building AI agents that augment people across the entire revenue workflow - from pipeline generation to deal execution, sales coaching, and forecasting. My view is that agentic AI isn’t the destroyer of software. It’s an accelerator for great products, great design, and companies willing to reinvent themselves around better customer outcomes. The Journal found that software companies successfully making this transition are already seeing growth. Glad to say Outreach is one of them. Link to Kate’s article here --> https://lnkd.in/eCSn-jZEFacing AI ‘Apocalypse,’ Once-Hot Software Companies Race to Reinvent ThemselvesFacing AI ‘Apocalypse,’ Once-Hot Software Companies Race to Reinvent Themselves
-
Ashish Srimal liked thisAshish Srimal liked thisDear friends, Those who know me well know that every company I've built started the same way: by spotting a megawave early within what I call the value creation pyramid. Cirrus Logic rode the Fabless Semiconductor wave at the silicon layer. NeoMagic caught multimedia going mobile. Centillium caught broadband. SoundHound caught voice AI at the software layer. Each wave sat one layer higher up the pyramid — and each was visible years before it broke, if you knew where to look. After two decades of investing and catalytic philanthropy, I came back to found my 11th company for one reason: the biggest wave I have ever seen is now forming at the very top of the pyramid — the services and judgment layer — and AI is what finally makes it addressable. This time, I'm not the only one who sees it. In the past few months, the top firms on Sand Hill Road have all publicly converged on the same thesis: Sequoia named it in March: Julien Bek's "Services: The New Software" argues that for every $1 spent on software, $6 is spent on services — and the next trillion-dollar companies will sell the work itself, not tools. Sequoia's Sonya Huang and Pat Grady sized the shift in "Generative AI's Act o1": agentic reasoning moves AI's addressable market from ~$350B of software spend to the ~$10 trillion services market — "service-as-a-software." Menlo Ventures just raised $3B — the largest funds in their 50-year history — to go "all in" on this exact shift: AI competing for labor budgets, not IT budgets. And the winning operating model is converging as well — the "Palantirization" of enterprise AI: companies everywhere are adopting Palantir's forward-deployed model, embedding with customers and selling delivered outcomes, while even McKinsey now partners with agent platforms rather than resist the shift. Innovera.ai is a pure play on the summit of this wave — the judgment layer, the hardest and most defensible part. Our risk and qualitative analysis engine sells the outcome of strategic work: enterprises evaluating every option and future state before committing capital — work they buy today from consultants at seven figures per engagement. Sequoia's thesis says judgment work is the last and largest prize; encoding forty years of boardroom judgment into software is exactly what my team and I are built to do.
Experience & Education
Volunteer Experience
Languages
-
English
Native or bilingual proficiency
-
Hindi
Native or bilingual proficiency
-
Bengali
Native or bilingual proficiency
Recommendations received
13 people have recommended Ashish
Join now to viewOther similar profiles
Explore more posts
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content