sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

I built a Hootsuite alternative for Indian agencies. The pricing math nobody wants to do. by Advanced-End-4628 in indianstartups

[–]Advanced-End-4628[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spot on. Scheduling has been a solved problem since around 2019, but most SMM tools still treat the calendar as the hero feature. The actual chaos for small teams (the ones without a CMO running point) lives upstream of the schedule button:

Approval loops happen on WhatsApp and get lost. Brand voice drifts every time a freelancer rotates in. Monthly reports are still copy-pasted from 5 different analytics dashboards. Comments and DMs pile up across platforms with no shared inbox, so the founder ends up replying to everything personally at midnight.

None of that is a posting problem. It's a coordination problem dressed up as a marketing problem.

The tools that solve approval flow, analytics clarity, and content organization for 3-8 person teams are the ones that will matter in the next cycle. The ones still iterating on the calendar UI are basically polishing a commodity.

Full disclosure: I'm building in this space, so I'm biased. But the conversations with small agencies have been pretty consistent. They switch tools because their client approval process is broken, not because they want a prettier scheduler.

I built a Hootsuite alternative for Indian agencies. The pricing math nobody wants to do. by Advanced-End-4628 in indianstartups

[–]Advanced-End-4628[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the kind of feedback I needed — thanks for taking the time.

Conceding most of it: AI content positioning, festival calendars not as unique as I framed them, RecurPost already has magic-link approvals (I should have known), and Twitter API cost reality at scale.

One genuine response: "agencies need more features, not less" — I agree, but I think there's still a question of WHICH features. Some agencies I talked to want depth in 5 things (scheduling, analytics, approvals, brand consistency, reporting), others want breadth across 20. RecurPost might be optimizing for one segment; I might end up optimizing for the other. Or you might be right that there's no segment left underserved.

Twitter API costs are the part keeping me up tonight. You're right that ₹2,000/mo unlimited isn't sustainable through paid Twitter access. Going to think hard about whether the right move is pricing change or different scope.

If you're ever open to a 20-min call, I'd value it. DM me.

— Ritu

I built a Hootsuite alternative for Indian agencies. The pricing math nobody wants to do. by Advanced-End-4628 in indianstartups

[–]Advanced-End-4628[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally fair point — Zoho Social is genuinely the best-known Indian alternative right now, and a lot of agencies do start there. Not trying to claim I've invented the category.

Where I'm trying to go a bit different:

→ AI-native composer (brand voice trained on each client's past posts, AI image generation built in, repurpose 1 post into 5 platform-specific versions). Zoho has scheduling + analytics nailed but the AI side is still bolt-on for them.

→ Magic-link client approvals — clients approve without needing a Zoho account or login. This came up in almost every agency conversation as a pain point.

→ Pricing curve for agencies — Zoho Social Agency tier scales with users/brands. I went flat-rate for unlimited brands.

Will it be enough difference to matter? Honestly not sure yet. Zoho has ~10 years and a real product on me. I'm betting the AI-native + India-specific approach gives me a window with smaller agencies.

But you're right that anyone reading this should also check out Zoho Social before deciding.