SabPaisa: Breaking Barriers or Falling Behind? A Go-to-Market Dilemma in Fintech

Amol Dhaigude, Ankit Raturi, Sakshyam Rai

Product #:W50102

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:Finance, Strategy

Setting:India, 2024

Details:Case (PDF) • 16 pages • 2026-07-17

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In June 2024, Pathikrit Dasgupta, co-founder and chief business officer of SabPaisa, faced a defining strategic decision after securing the Reserve Bank of India Payment Aggregator licence. Although the approval validated the firm’s capabilities, it also limited its ability to pursue multiple growth paths. As a bootstrapped financial technology (fintech) company in a competitive payments ecosystem, SabPaisa had to choose a clear direction. The company’s leadership was divided between two mutually exclusive go-to-market (GTM) strategies: (1) scaling through small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with fast onboarding and early cash flows or (2) focusing on enterprise and government clients with longer sales cycles but higher retention and defensibility. Each option involved trade-offs in operating model, risk, and cash flow. It was a GTM dilemma.

Learning Objectives

This case is primarily designed for Master of Business Administration (MBA) and executive MBA courses in strategy and fintech, with secondary applicability in marketing and entrepreneurship modules. It fits particularly well within modules that examine strategic decision-making in high-growth, regulated environments where scaling, compliance, and competitive differentiation intersect. The case offers practical insights into navigating regulatory frameworks, balancing volume versus value strategies, and developing sustainable GTM approaches amid dynamic industry and regulatory conditions. It enables students to analyze real-world dilemmas faced by fintech start-ups in emerging markets, fostering critical thinking about strategic trade-offs, resource allocation, and market entry tactics in complex, evolving ecosystems. Instructors can use this case to illustrate how regulatory legitimacy can serve as a competitive advantage, to show how to adapt strategies to local constraints while maintaining international relevance, and to deepen discussion on the global parallels and regional nuances of rapid fintech expansion. This case enables students to analyze a high-stakes strategic decision in a resource-constrained and regulated fintech environment. Specifically, it helps students to do the following:

Evaluate how a bootstrapped fintech firm should prioritize between competing GTM strategies when it cannot pursue multiple growth paths simultaneously.
Analyze the trade-offs between SME-led scale and enterprise and government–led depth, particularly in terms of cash flow timing, competitive intensity, and long-term defensibility.
Assess how regulatory approval, while enabling market access, can also constrain strategic flexibility by increasing compliance requirements and execution risk.
Examine how capital constraints shape feasible strategic choices, forcing firms to sequence growth rather than pursue parallel opportunities.
Develop and defend a coherent strategic recommendation by explicitly linking assumptions, resource constraints, and risk tolerance.