Ankit Oberoi

co-founder @adpushup. Usability, Split Testing, Optimization, Growth Hacking, Performance & Web Analytics. Obsessed with learning new languages.

[Calvinball Capital @CalvinballCap]

The semaglutide shortage ending could be just as much of a boon as a negative for $LFMD. Lose out on compounding obviously, but already have insurance/Medicaire support whereas $HIMS does not. LifeMD could very well start taking market share from compounders

[Sumanth Raghavendra @sumanthr]

Those Who Proved Indian Tech Could Win Globally:
@oberoiankit democratized adtech with AdPushup
@vinod_cc's CloudCherry showed Indian SaaS could attract Cisco
@amnigos's Minjar demonstrated value that Nutanix couldn't resist
Herb Madan demonstrated serial entrepreneurship wisdom

[Bryan Johnson @bryan_johnson]

When in India, I did end this podcast early due to the bad air quality. @nikhilkamathcio was a gracious host and we were having a great time. The problem was that the room we were in circulated outside air which made the air purifier I'd brought with me ineffective.

Inside, the AQI was 130 and PM2.5 was 75 µg/m³, which is equal to smoking 3.4 cigarettes for 24 hours of exposure.

This was my third day in India and the air pollution had made my skin break out in rash and my eyes and throat burn.

Air pollution has been so normalized in India that no one even notices anymore despite the science of its negative effects being well known. People would be outside running. Babies and small children exposed from birth. No one wore a mask which can significantly decrease exposure. It was so confusing.

The evidence shows that India would improve the health of its population more by cleaning up air quality than by curing all cancers.

I am unsure why India's leaders do not make air quality a national emergency. I don't know what interests, money and power keep things the way they are but it's really bad for the entire country.

When I returned to the U.S., my eyes were fresh to see what is normalized to me. I saw obesity everywhere. 42.4% of American are obese and because I was around it all the time, I had been mostly oblivious to it.

In many contexts, obesity is worse than air pollution in the long term.

Why wouldn't American leaders declare a national emergency on obesity? What interests, money and power keep things the way they are but are really bad for the entire country.

[StripMallGuy @realEstateTrent]

It happened again this morning, and it’s sadly becoming a joke at this point.

I walked into Starbucks, and the shelf that just a couple of days ago was full of holiday merchandise for the new season was completely empty.

Again.

When I asked the barista, they confirmed it: someone walked in, calmly cleared the shelves, and walked out without a care.

They of course aren’t allowed to stop them - that would be nonsensical.

The barista told me that even if they call the police, it takes hours for them to arrive, and nothing happens anyway. This is just the new normal.

The folks at Target told me the same thing when I watched a guy fill two entire bags and just calmly walk out with a smile on his face as he was surrounded by security that could do nothing to stop him.

Some might say, "So what? Starbucks or Target are massive companies, and a few missing holiday items don’t matter."

But it does matter. It makes order meaningless. It erodes the social fabric—the part of society that values integrity and accountability.

What do kids think when they see this? What does it mean to the person who saves up to buy a special Starbucks mug as a gift for their uncle? It sends the message that stealing is fine, that rules don’t apply, and that no one cares.

I don’t know what to do, but shrugging this off feels like a massive failure. Starbucks will restock the shelves, and they’ll just be cleared again. There are no consequences, so the thieves will keep coming back. And where does that leave us?

A seemingly minor crime like this has far-reaching implications. It’s not just about stolen mugs—it’s about the creeping normalization of lawlessness.

Years ago, New York City adopted a policy to address graffiti immediately. Graffiti may seem like a small crime, but tackling it sent a big message: small acts of disorder would not be tolerated. Crime rates dropped because the city prioritized order.

Now, I find myself dreading the day I have to explain to my son why some people can just walk in and take what they want, or why we pay for the subway while others effortlessly jump the turnstile. These small acts of defiance aren’t harmless—they chip away at our society, slowly at first and then all at once.

We need to bring back the lessons learned from the graffiti-removal days. This can’t go unchecked—it needs to stop, no matter if the resources it would take are great. The short-term expense is worth it.

The costs of not doing something now is too high.

It's not too late.

[AIBoomi (formerly SaaSBoomi) @AIBoomi]

Blasting the party poppers for @oberoiankit, an early volunteer and our Volunteer of the Month for August 2024! 🎉

Ankit was instrumental in shaping the SGx program and building cornerstone events like the Annual, Qafila, and the M&A Helpline.

More at https://t.co/hEx6UUWOpL!

[Michael Wiggins De Oliveira @MichaelWigginsO]

$LFMD is indeed one of my favorite stocks. It's not the same as $HIMS.

$HIMS is on a rocket....

Meanwhile, $LFMD is dirt cheap. It has some more idiosyncratic aspects, with WorkSimpli having some value, etc, which confuses the whole GLP1 setup.

But the biz is going to ooze FCF in '25. It's just a few more months until we start to get more traction on its GLP1 program. 2025 is just around the corner.

[Michael Wiggins De Oliveira @MichaelWigginsO]

$LFMD is one of my favorite stocks in the portfolio. I recognize that it's getting no love at the moment.

$LFMD's GLP-1 business is being valued at 18x EBITDA, while its growing extremely fast. From $0 to $20 million of EBITDA in 2 years.

And on top of that, LFMD's WorkSimpli, which is worth ~$60 to $70 million, is being thrown in for free.
Read more:
https://t.co/TCU12wuqyV

[AIBoomi (formerly SaaSBoomi) @AIBoomi]

Presenting our very first webinar that will provide an exclusive peek into understanding the world of mergers & acquisitions! 🤝

RSVP 👉 https://t.co/xJYLwxxYiQ

⭐ @oberoiankit (CEO, @adpushup)
⭐ @me_nder (CEO, @wingmanforsales by @clarihq)
⭐ @vinod_cc (EVP, @uniphore)

#SaaS

[Dhruvil Sanghvi @dhruvilsanghvi]

Glimpse from the largest SaaS founders summit in Asia last week.

@aasthasharma16 @casuhasini @ankitdudhwewala @oberoiankit @helloanand @ku1deep @atulsian @aakrit @sanket_invideo @pallavn @tmatthewj @srikrishnang @vinod_cc @CxMemories @BMrigank @sumanthr @vengatvk @adityaksanghi

[Crossroads @Dr_Crossroads]

$PYPL PayPal has a reputation of slow innovation, sloppy integration, and a glacial speed of shipping out new features.

@acce is working on changing this. Here's what's new THIS week!

[Pallav Nadhani @pallavn]

SaaSy parties @ SaaSBoomi annual 2024! @dhruvilsanghvi @atulsian @oberoiankit

[Crossroads @Dr_Crossroads]

$PYPL

On PayPal's earnings, I'm still in and holding, but I was wrong going into Q4. Hugely wrong. Let's take a look.

THE GOOD

🟢 Q4

PayPal beat expectations for Q4 numbers.

- 8.03b vs 7.87b revenue.
- TPV 409b vs 403b.
- ADJ EPS $1.48 vs $1.36

Don't let anyone tell you Q4 numbers weren't good to great. They were. The initial reaction was +10% for a reason.

🟢Margins

This was the largest (pleasant) shock: gross margin inversion!

🟢 Transparency

As shareholders, we now have access to a significantly improved amount of data, from monthly active accounts to a breakdown between Venmo, cross-border, value-added services, the TPV mix, etc.

They're beginning to report non-GAAP EPS including SBC and payroll taxes.

The tone (while not what I would love) was sober and transparent.

This isn't insignificant. It's refreshing, and more data is always better for investors.

🟢 Expense Discipline

PayPal had 39bps of non-GAAP operating margin expansion and nonGAAP EPS +19%, driven by expense discipline

🟢Unbranded Growth and Remarks

PSP processing grew 30% Y/Y. I loved this quote by Chriss:

"We have really, I believe, one of the best products in the market for our merchants. We're seeing the highest conversion rates out there, and it's something that our merchants are looking for and looking to adopt."

THE NEUTRAL

🟡 Active Users

PayPal told us active users would decline. They did. However, they gave us the monthly active user data which is inflecting upwards and has been since Q1 2023. Active users might slide another quarter perhaps, but growth here is on the horizon as the subsidized accounts that have largely been inactive for 6-9 months churn off.

🟡 Buybacks

$5b in buybacks were issued last year. "At least" $5b are offered this year.

Many were hoping to see this number improved. FCF from Happy Returns and KKR spiked, and I don't see any plans in the guidance for the cash.

It's fine if they don't increase buybacks, but the cash should be employed to either improve growth (more on that next) or returning shareholder value.

🔴🔴🔴 2024 Guidance 🔴🔴🔴

This was not good. Not good at all.

In Q3 earnings, Alex Chriss said, "But let me be clear, notwithstanding those realities, this is a growth company with great prospects."

We don't expect an immediate turnaround, but let's look at this "growth company" for 2024's guidance.

And let's compare that with 2023:

See that $5.10 EPS figure in 2024? Yeah, that's what we had in 2023.

In other words, they are guiding for ZERO growth. Zero. That's $0.00 growth for the full year.

Why?

They gave some clarifications:

"First, for the time being, we intend to move away from providing annual revenue guidance and instead provide guidance for the upcoming quarter. "

Why would they do this?

"Given the considerable changes underway at the company, we believe it is prudent to guide revenue one quarter ahead and provide updates as the year progresses."

They also noted they are not baking into the cake anything from the new First Look initiatives until they see execution.

Fine. But here's the problem:

1⃣ You cannot, cannot, cannot call this a growth company one quarter, and guide for no growth for a year.

2⃣ You can choose to guide for a quarter only. That's fair. But do not give a slide that shows full year EPS at "in-line" / flat. Just show Q1, or give us realistic expectations.

3⃣ We need to know why that EPS figure is showing no gain. It makes zero sense in light of:

- Your macro expectations.
- Your phenomenal Q4.
- Your continued growth.
- Your buybacks.
- Your OpEx gains and the layoffs.

It just doesn't add up.

4⃣ When the bearish argument is that competition eats at margins and this company won't grow, you should have done the following:

A) Bang your chests a bit at the Q4 outperformance. Seriously, the margin inversion was a HUGE surprise that was discussed in Q3 and not guided for. Here, it was largely glossed over.

Talk about whether these margins are expected to improve over the year (not even Q/Q) or not.

B) Do not feed the bears. They say PayPal won't grow. Again, you can guide quarterly. That's fair. But you cannot give a slide that shows zero growth (unless that's really what you think will happen, which I don't think is the case here).

FINAL THOUGHTS

I am holding. I still think Chriss is the right man for the job and he has assembled a great team. I still think this is a growth story, near and far-term.

This is admittedly at odds with what they guided. I was COMPLETELY WRONG with what I was thinking they'd guide on. This is a significant miss on my part, and for that, I apologize.

I will wait, not adding, not selling, and see how they execute over the first half. I think the First Look products can make a significant difference in the trajectory of this company. It may take longer than I expected.

[Dhruvil Sanghvi @dhruvilsanghvi]

@mtripathi @CxMemories @varunshoor @ArvindParthiban @kalyanvarmak @UmeshBhutoria @whoisraj Overheard at @saasboomi Qafila: When it comes to international expansion, don’t send the bible. Send the missionaries. - @oberoiankit

[Steven Van @stevenvan_]

My next investment will be in @buildabear $BBW

not even joking

[LogiNext @LogiNext]

@dhruvilsanghvi talks about #SaaS in the #GCC region, and how to sell to governments, in this fireside chat with @saasboomi.💯

@oberoiankit, @adpushup
@me_nder, @wingmanforsales

#entrepreneurmindset #saasgrowth #b2bsaas #founder #podcasts

[Dhruvil Sanghvi @dhruvilsanghvi]

So here’s the much awaited podcast we recorded at @oberoiankit’s residence in Dubai along with @me_nder

As we approach the biggest SaaS event in the UAE by @saasboomi coming up in Jan, check out the full talk to get your thoughts clear on middle east as a market for ur startup.

[Avinash Raghava 🇮🇳 @avinashraghava]

An international chapter for 🇮🇳 #SaaS cannot get bigger, as we're proud to announce our arrival at the GCC!

Presenting @saasboomi #Qafila, a three-day exclusive event geared towards building an India-Middle East SaaS corridor to accelerate learning, growth, and innovation.

Visit https://t.co/FV1qZoifVd to learn more and fill out your intent form.

We're limiting the slots to 30 #startups that will gain access to this #community-led implementation designed for your success in the GCC region. 🙌

w/ @aasthasharma16, @oberoiankit, @kapilmakhija, @dhruvilsanghvi, #YashSultania, #Jayashree, @harshwebweaver, @sureshsambandam, @Millusha1

[Sumanth Raghavendra @sumanthr]

July 7, 2023 - Public beta launch
Sept 29, 2023 - One million users

84 days to reach 7 figures!

Fastest productivity app to go from 1 to 1 million users...in history

[Signeasy @GetSigneasy]

✈️ Touchdown at San Francisco Airport and bam! The Signeasy billboard greets you with its sheer awesomeness 🙌🏙️

The vibrant colors and captivating design make it impossible to miss. It's not just a billboard; it's a work of art!🎨

Have you spotted it yet?

#Delight #Contracts

[Avinash Raghava 🇮🇳 @avinashraghava]

There's no community without a proper support system. 💯

Here's to our ecosystem partners who're ready to support us on every endeavour that promises to propel 🇮🇳 SaaS across borders! 🥂

with @vinod_cc, @priya_ramach, @dkhare, @oberoiankit, @ArvindParthiban, @sanjaynath, @vmalu , @amruthajalihal, @arpiit and few more friends.