Nalin Senthamil

Storylane

Drive product-led growth (PLG) with Storylane platform so buyers can self-experience your product - and get quality lead in your pipeline.
 
At Storylane, we enable Marketing and Sales teams to show their product in an engaging and delightful way. And the best part is that it only takes on 15 mins to create one of these demos and add it to your site. 

Not only are we the most affordable demo company on the market, we also offer a free trial so don’t take my word for it! Signup today and create your first demo today completely free.

How to get started -
If you would like to create your own demo today, message me or hop on to the storylane.io website to schedule a demo or start a free trial.

Founder & CEO

Kinderlime (acquired by Procare)

Built first ever SaaS platform for early education market. (Acquired by Warburg/Procare).

Co-Founder / CTO

DAQRI

(Acquired by Snap Inc). DAQRI is an Augmented Reality company that is focused on improving how industrial enterprises work via Smart helmet, Glasses , SDK and Cloud ecosystem. DAQRI builds end-end entire ecosystem to make that possible (both HW/SW). 

Joined DAQRI as Technical Executive leader and grew the software engineering team to +100. Strategized and executed on its core products like Smart Helmet , Smart Glasses, Cube , SDK Platform and Web Tools to enable DAQRI reach its vision.

Founding Engineer / CTO

Amazon

• Led and developed "Amazon Flow" mobile app.

Senior Engineer / Tech Lead

PhaseSpace Inc

Senior Computer Vision Engineer

Sarnoff Corporation

Senior Software Engineer

Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc.

Software Engineer

Hi, I'm Nalin, Founder & CEO of Storylane. 

Storylane lets marketing and sales teams build product demos in minutes. Today, we're serving 3000+ customers and growing rapidly.

In this era of remote sales, buyers are making quick decisions and Storylane empowers companies to drive growth through their product. 

I'm passionate about building delightful products through technology and wear multiple hats like that of a SaaS dreamer, exec, and advisor.

My sales guy just beat my all-time sales record at Storylane.
And I couldn't be happier about it.

Jackson Eldridge joined in 2024 and has already closed $2.5M in deals. That matches my own $2.5M after years of founder-led sales.

When he told me, I saw the pride:

"I know this space as well as you now. I'm the leading demo strategist."

I'm doing maybe 1-2 hours of sales calls daily now. 
Jackson does this full-time, crushing it.

Between us, we've driven half of Storylane's revenue to date.

As founders, there's a special moment when someone on your team surpasses what you built. It's not a threat – it's exactly what you want.

Time for me to pass the baton and watch him take our sales to heights I never could alone.

Founder & CEO @Storylane - Build Killer Product Demos

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A founder friend called me yesterday to say he's shutting down his company.

But instead of burning through his remaining capital on desperate pivots, he's returning what's left to investors.

I was one of his angel investors. 

Most would expect me to be disappointed, but I was actually impressed.

The clarity to know when to stop is rare in founder circles. We idolize the "never give up" stories, but ignore an equally important skill:

Knowing when to let go.

His reasoning was crystal clear:

"I could burn the rest trying more pivots, but the team is exhausted. I'd rather return your capital now and start fresh later with renewed energy."

And I don't disagree.

Sometimes returning capital is the right move:
- When team motivation has fundamentally broken
- When market timing proves catastrophically wrong
- When pursuing it means destroying your mental health

We need to start acknowledging the wisdom of a graceful exit.

I want to take a moment to say happy Thanksgiving to the people who built Storylane.

Every win this year - every product improvement, every delighted customer, every milestone - came from this team's collective effort.

What I'm most grateful for isn't just the results.

It's the culture we've built together:

→ We support each other
→ We keep a Day 1 mindset
→ We challenge ideas, not people
→ We enjoy building and learning together
→ We wake up excited to solve real problems

This is the foundation that will carry us into 2026.

Proud of how far we have come.

We spent 3 days with our CS team in the Bay Area last week for a post-sales workshop.

Our team flew in from 10 different cities.
 
Here's how we structured it:

Day 1: Process refinement
↪︎ Standardizing onboarding, QBRs, and customer interactions

Day 2: Sales mindset training
↪︎ Our top salespeople teaching CS how to spot expansion opportunities
↪︎ Moving beyond "are you happy?" to uncovering business challenges

Day 3: Signal identification
↪︎ Spotting early indicators of churn risk
↪︎ Recognizing when accounts are ready for upsell

The reason we did this:

- To hit our $20M target, expansion is non-negotiable
- CS speaks to customers daily but often misses revenue signals
- Sales-CS alignment creates a seamless customer experience

As you grow, your teams need to evolve beyond their initial job descriptions! 💪

IPOs are now impossible for most SaaS companies. Even at $100M ARR, the door is closed if you don't have these 2 things:

1. A clear AI strategy
2. Profitability

I was reading Jason M. Lemkin's analysis of the current SaaS landscape, and the numbers are sobering:

→ AI funding hit $377B annualized run rate this year
→ Traditional SaaS mega-rounds collapsed from 147 deals in 2021 to just 21 in 2025
→ Software exit multiples reset from 25x to 15x EBITDA
→ The IPO bar is now $400M+ ARR growing 30-50%+

This leaves hundreds of good $20-100M ARR companies stranded in no-man's land.

Traditional exit paths are gone.

Corporate M&A is focused exclusively on AI capabilities. 
PE firms remain selective, demanding AI integration and 40%+ EBITDA potential.

So what's the playbook if you're building a SaaS company today?

3 things I'm doing at Storylane:

- Developing a deep AI strategy (not just slapping "AI")
- Verticalizing our solutions more than going horizontal
- Staying profitable to control our destiny

You can cry about the IPO bar being too high or PE firms sitting on cash they won't deploy...

...or you can focus on what's in your control.

Markets change. Your job is to adapt.

When we hit $10M ARR at Storylane, I celebrated few mins. Then I'm obsessed with a single question: 

How do we get to $20M?

We got here by:

→ Deepening our product lines
→ Scaling our PLG + sales-led hybrid motion
→ Expanding our $3M marketing investment for new logos

But the playbook that got us to $10M won't get us to $20M.

One major shift we're already making: doubling down on customer expansion.

We made few changes:

→ Hired more CSM.
→ Changed our process & tools.
→ Updated commission structure for all CSM.
→ Hired Enterprise Sales for expansion.
→ Investing in customer marketing.

Oct was our biggest month from expansion ever.  

Something is working, but too early to say.

One thing is clear - Startups require constant evolution.

You have to look one year ahead constantly, identify gaps and keep placing new bets.

A prospect switching from our competitor asked me for our 12-month product roadmap yesterday. I told them I'd be bullsh*tting if I showed them one.

Instead, I offered:

1. Exactly what we're building in the next 3-4 months
2. Our vision for where the product is heading
3. Our track record of shipping last 12 months

Anyone claiming they know precisely what features they'll ship 12 months from now is lying to you or themselves in the world of AI.

This prospect had already been burned by their previous vendor promising features that never showed up.

In the end...

They signed with us a week later.

Because what they wanted wasn’t a roadmap. They wanted confidence that we’ll:

- Solve problems quickly
- Adapt to changing conditions
- Be transparent about capabilities

Long roadmaps don't win customers. 

Execution will.

I used to think working hard was enough to succeed.
Unfortunately, it's not.

You need to work hard on the ONE thing you're exceptional at.

But most people don't know what that one thing is.

They spread their energy across everything - then burn out.

Here's my advice to find it:

1. Try to hang out with people smarter than you
2. Get good mentors who can tell you where you're exceptional
3. Double down on what you're naturally better at than others

Personal example:

I spent 4-5 years doing research and publishing papers.
Then, I spent 7-8 years building niche tech.
I was good at both. 

I could code, publish papers, solve technical problems or build products.

But nobody told me I was actually better at building businesses.

A mentor could have saved me years.

Once I figured it out, everything changed.

I stopped trying to be the best engineer and focused on being the best operator.

The lesson:

Work hard. But be selective about where.

You can't be exceptional at everything.

Find the one thing you can dominate and go all in.

Just shared my biggest PMF insight on The Founder Initiative (TFI) podcast.

After building Storylane to $10M ARR, I've learned that PMF shows up in customer behavior long before it shows in your metrics.

These emotional signals preceded every major growth phase we've had.

When prospects start treating your roadmap like it's a collaboration rather than a sales pitch, you're onto something special.

Had a great conversation with Adam O'Donnell about this and other lessons from our YC journey to today.

Full episode in comments.

Cybersecurity products are complex.

That’s why leading cybersecurity companies trust Storylane to:
▶️ Educate customers effectively
▶️ Simplify products with interactive demos on a reliable, secure platform

Want to learn more?
Catch me and Jackson Eldridge at the Cybersecurity Marketing Society Con 2025 and see how we’re helping brands showcase their solutions with clarity and impact.

🗓️ December 7-10, 2025
📍 Austin, TX

See you there?

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