xPay (YC W24)

xPay x PlanetSpark

Outbound Capstone: signal-led, offer-based, multithreaded with Loom and voice notes

Prepared by Harshit Singh | September 2026 | Written from the seat of xPay's Founding Sales Lead

1. Account snapshot

PlanetSpark is the target: a Gurugram edtech that sells live 1:1 classes to parents in India and abroad, just reached its first profitable year, and is openly building towards an IPO.

Why xPay should sell here: PlanetSpark is exactly the company xPay was built for. It is an Indian entity collecting from foreign parents by card, it sells high-ticket packages where one failed payment kills a closed deal, and it is heading into an IPO where every rupee of foreign revenue needs clean FIRC documentation. xPay already lists edtech among its customer verticals.

2. Signals

Five signals, newest first. Each one gives the outreach a reason to exist this month.

The one-line read: a profitable, IPO-bound edtech selling high-ticket packages to parents abroad, where the most expensive failure in the funnel is a card that declines after the parent has said yes.

3. Buying group: five people, one problem

Five people at PlanetSpark feel the same leak from different seats. Each gets their own thread, their own Loom and their own voice note, led by what is in it for them.

How the threads connect: the sales and international leads feel the pain daily and can confirm it fast. Finance owns the data for the audit. The co-founders decide. Every reply from one thread is used to open the next: "Your head of sales mentioned…"

Personal thread with Kunal: runs alongside the business threads and never mentions xPay. Both are Gurugram-based, and Harshit runs the Harshit Unscripted founder series, so the hook is an episode on taking edtech to profit.

4. Hypothesis and offer

Hypothesis every message tests: a counselor closes a parent abroad → payment link sent → the card declines or the parent can't pay the way they prefer → the parent drifts → PlanetSpark has paid full CAC and counselor time for a deal it never collects.

What xPay changes (from xPay's own published material):

• International card success of around 90–95%, against 60–75% typical for many Indian gateways
• Local payment methods in 180+ countries: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna, Afterpay, Tabby (big in the UAE)
• FIRC and FIRA generated automatically for every international payment
• Mid-market exchange rate with no forex markup, one transparent fee, no setup charges
• Payment links with no dev work, subscriptions and renewals, settlement within 24 hours
• Works alongside Stripe and Razorpay through one integration

The math (illustrative, to validate on the call): if international is still about a quarter of revenue, that is roughly ₹35–37 Cr a year of attempted international payments. Every 10 points of payment success on that base is ₹3.5 Cr+ of revenue PlanetSpark already paid to acquire.

The offer, risk reversed:

• Free checkout leak audit: finance exports one month of international payment attempts. xPay sends back a market-by-market view of what failed, why, and what was recoverable. About 20 minutes of their time.
• 30-day one-market pilot: route the UAE or US through xPay next to the current gateway. No setup fee, no contract. If success rate doesn't move, switch it off.

5. Cadence: aggressive, 21 days, 38 touches across five people

Every person gets a personalised Loom and at least one voice note. Loom and voice note days are staggered so the account hears from xPay almost every working day, but no single person gets more than two touches in a day.

Rules: the moment anyone replies, pause their thread and continue in that channel. Use every reply to open the others ("I was speaking with your head of sales about…"). If Kunal replies on the personal thread, keep it personal for at least one exchange.

6. Thread 1: Kunal Malik, Co-founder and CEO

Day 1, LinkedIn connection note

Hi Kunal, fellow Gurgaon builder here. Been following the PlanetSpark turnaround for a while. Would be good to connect.

Day 1, Email 1

Subject: money you've already earned

Hi Kunal,

Your counselors are probably closing parents abroad who never end up paying. Not because they changed their mind, but because the card got declined on the link.

That's revenue you've already paid for.

Do you have a sense of how much of it slips through each month?

Day 2, Loom 1 (LinkedIn DM)

Kunal, I tried paying for a PlanetSpark package as a parent in Dubai and recorded what happened. 90 seconds: [Loom link]. There are two spots where I think you're losing parents. Curious if you see the same.

Loom script: open planetspark.in with a UAE location, go through enrolment to the payment step, and show factually which local methods are missing and what currency the parent sees. End with: "If this already converts well for you, ignore me. If not, I can show you what's recoverable." Don't show xPay.

Day 5, Voice note 1

Hey Kunal, Harshit here, also in Gurgaon. Sent you a short Loom on your checkout from the UAE. The short version: I think some parents your team closes abroad are dropping off at the payment step, and it's fixable without touching your ads or your team. Would love your take, even if it's "we've already got this covered".

Day 8, Email 2 (reply in thread)

Kunal, rough numbers.

Many Indian gateways get 60–75% of international card payments through. We see 90–95%.

If international is still around a quarter of your revenue, every 10 points is ₹3.5 Cr+ a year, with no extra ad spend or counselors.

Worth finding out where you sit?

Day 11, Email 3 (reply in thread): the offer

Kunal, here's an easy way to find out.

Your finance team sends one month of international payment attempts. We send back what failed, by market, and what you could have collected. About 20 minutes of their time.

If it's worth acting on, we run one market for 30 days, no setup fee. If nothing changes, you switch it off.

Should I set it up with your finance head?

Day 13, Voice note 2

Kunal, quick follow-up. [If a colleague replied: "I was chatting with (name) on your sales team, and they mentioned (their words)."] [If not: "In the UAE, a lot of parents pay for bigger packages with Tabby in instalments. If your checkout abroad is card-only, that's probably the easiest revenue you'll find this quarter."] Happy to show you the numbers whenever suits.

Day 15, Email 4: straight question

Kunal, I'll be straight.

I've reached out a few times, which usually means it's wrong time, wrong person, or not a problem you have.

Which one is it? Any answer helps.

Day 19, One-line DM

Kunal, one question and I'll leave you be: who owns international payments at PlanetSpark, you or finance?

Day 21, Breakup (new thread)

Subject: should I close the file?

Kunal, I haven't heard back, so I'll assume international payments aren't a priority right now.

Should I close this out, or is there someone on your team I should talk to instead?

Personal thread (Day 7 and Day 14, never mentions xPay)

Day 7: Kunal, separate from anything work-related. I run a founder series called Harshit Unscripted, recorded here in Gurgaon. Would love an episode on how you took an edtech company to profit when everyone else was cutting. Forty minutes, your schedule. Open to it?

Day 14: No pressure on the episode. If the timing's off, happy to pick it up after your next milestone.

Call script (Day 3, 10, 17)

Opener: Hi Kunal, it's Harshit from xPay. You weren't expecting my call, so can I take 30 seconds to tell you why I rang, and then you decide if we keep talking?

Why: We help Indian companies selling abroad collect more of the payments they've already won. With edtech, it's usually a counselor closing a parent abroad and the card failing on the link.

Question: Does that show up at PlanetSpark, or have you already solved it?

If engaged: Would a free look at one month of your international declines be useful, so you see exactly what was recoverable?

If not: Fair enough. Who on your team watches payment success? I'll take it from there.

Voicemail: "Hi Kunal, Harshit from xPay, also in Gurgaon. It's about parents abroad whose cards fail after your counselors close them. I'll send a short note. No need to call back."

7. Thread 2: Head of Sales / Counseling (champion)

The person whose team feels this every day. What's in it for them: counselors get paid on deals they already closed, and stop chasing parents after "payment failed".

Day 1, Email 1

Subject: closed, but not paid

Hi [Name],

Your counselors do the hard part: a parent in Dubai or New Jersey says yes on the call. Then the card declines on the link and the deal quietly dies.

That's commission your team earned and never sees.

How often do your counselors end up chasing a failed payment?

Day 3, Voice note 1

Hi [Name], Harshit from xPay. Short one. I keep hearing from sales teams selling to parents abroad that the call goes great, then the payment fails and the parent goes cold. If that's happening on your side, I think we can fix most of it without changing anything your counselors do. Would love to hear what you see.

Day 6, Loom

[Name], recorded 90 seconds walking through what a parent abroad sees after your counselor sends the payment link: [Loom link]. The moment where most of them drop is at 0:45. Does that match what your team sees?

Day 8, Call 1

Opener: Hi [Name], Harshit from xPay. Can I take 30 seconds to say why I called, and you tell me if it's worth your time?

Why: Counselors closing parents abroad, then losing them at payment. We help more of those payments go through.

Question: When a payment fails after a close, what does your team do today?

Day 12, Email 2 (reply in thread)

[Name], if your counselors could stop chasing even half of those failed payments, that's more closed revenue from the same calendar.

I've offered Kunal a free audit of one month of international declines. Your view on which markets hurt most would make it much sharper.

Worth 15 minutes?

Day 16, Voice note 2 and Day 20, Breakup

Voice note: [Name], one last thought from me. Most of the fix is simply letting parents abroad pay the way they already pay everywhere else: Apple Pay, local cards, Tabby in the UAE. If that sounds useful for your team, I'm around.

Breakup: [Name], I'll leave it here. If failed payments ever become a headache for your counselors, just reply to this and I'll pick it up.

8. Thread 3: Head of Finance / CFO

What's in it for them: FIRCs generated automatically, no forex markup, settlement in 24 hours, and far fewer bank follow-ups before the IPO audit.

Day 3, Email 1

Subject: FIRCs without the bank chase

Hi [Name],

With an IPO on the roadmap, every rupee from abroad needs a FIRC your auditors can trace. For most finance teams that still means chasing the bank.

We generate FIRC and FIRA automatically for every international payment, and settle at the mid-market rate with no forex markup.

Is that something your team still does by hand?

Day 5, Loom

[Name], here's what the checkout leak audit would look like with your data: [Loom link]. It's 90 seconds on the output, market by market, so you can see exactly what you'd get before sharing anything.

Day 9, Call 1 plus voicemail

Opener: Hi [Name], Harshit from xPay. Can I take 30 seconds to say why I called, and you decide if we continue?

Why: Before an IPO, foreign revenue paperwork tends to become a finance headache. We automate FIRCs and help more international payments go through.

Question: How are FIRCs handled today?

Voicemail: "Hi [Name], Harshit from xPay, about FIRCs and international payment success ahead of your IPO. I'll drop you a note."

Day 11, Email 2 (reply in thread)

[Name], the ask on your side would be small.

Export one month of international payment attempts. We send back what failed, why, and what you could have collected. Nothing to install.

Would you be open to that if Kunal is on board?

Day 14, Voice note and Day 18, Breakup

Voice note: [Name], quick one. Beyond FIRCs, the thing finance teams usually like most is the forex. We settle at the rate you see on Google, no markup. On your international volume, that alone adds up. Happy to show the numbers.

Breakup: [Name], I'll stop here. If FIRCs or forex costs come up in IPO prep, reply and I'll pick it straight back up.

9. Thread 4: Head of International / Growth

What's in it for them: higher checkout conversion in the UAE and US without touching the marketing budget.

Day 2, Email 1

Subject: your UAE checkout

Hi [Name],

Parents in the UAE are used to paying for bigger purchases with Tabby or Apple Pay. If your checkout there is card-only, you're probably losing parents who were ready to buy.

Adding local methods usually lifts conversion on high-ticket packages without spending another dirham on ads.

Is the UAE your biggest market abroad?

Day 4, Loom

[Name], I went through your checkout as a parent in Dubai: [Loom link]. The payment options at the end are where I'd expect drop-off. Would love your read on it.

Day 7, Voice note

Hi [Name], Harshit from xPay. Sent you a short Loom on the UAE checkout. My guess is there's easy conversion sitting at the payment step, especially on bigger packages. If you're already on top of it, tell me and I'll stop bugging you.

Day 10, Email 2, Day 15 Call, Day 20 Breakup

Email 2: [Name], easiest test I can think of: we run just the UAE through xPay for 30 days next to your current setup. No setup fee. If conversion doesn't move, switch it off. Worth trying?

Call opener: Hi [Name], Harshit from xPay. Can I take 30 seconds to say why I called? It's about parents in the UAE dropping off at payment.

Breakup: [Name], I'll leave it here. If conversion abroad becomes a focus, reply and I'll pick it up.

10. Thread 5: Maneesh Dhooper, Co-founder

What's in it for him: more conversion abroad from the same traffic, and one fewer problem on the road to the IPO. Kept short, since Kunal is the primary decision-maker.

Day 4, Email 1

Subject: parents who say yes but don't pay

Hi Maneesh,

Some of the parents your team closes abroad are probably never paying, simply because their card fails on the link.

Fixing that is more revenue from traffic you already have.

Is international conversion something you look at, or is that Kunal's area?

Day 6, Voice note and Day 9, Loom

Voice note: Hi Maneesh, Harshit from xPay, based in Gurgaon too. Short one: I think there's revenue leaking at the payment step for parents abroad, and it's a fairly easy fix. Happy to show you what I mean in 90 seconds.

Loom DM: Maneesh, here's that 90-second walkthrough of your checkout from the UAE: [Loom link]. Curious whether it matches what you see in the numbers.

Day 13, Email 2 and Day 20, Breakup

Email 2: Maneesh, I've offered a free audit of one month of international declines. If it shows nothing, you've lost 20 minutes. If it shows something, it's revenue you've already earned. Worth a look?

Breakup: Maneesh, I'll leave it here. Happy to pick it back up whenever international conversion is on the table.

11. Discovery and objections

Discovery questions (once anyone engages)

• Which markets bring the most international revenue today: US, UAE, UK?
• Which gateway handles international payments now, and do you know its success rate by market?
• What happens after a failed payment: does the counselor chase it, or does the parent drift?
• How are FIRCs handled today, and has your auditor raised anything ahead of the IPO?
• Does Winspark.ai use the same checkout, or is it being built fresh?
• If international success went up 10–15 points, where would it show first: revenue, counselor productivity or CAC?

Objection handling

12. Verification flags and sources

Check before sending

• International share of revenue: the 25% figure is from an older disclosure. Look for a newer number, or keep the math conditional ("if it's still about a quarter").
• Check PlanetSpark's current payment stack by walking the checkout from a UAE or US location. Record the Loom at the same time.
• Confirm Kunal Malik is still CEO and Maneesh Dhooper's current role; find the finance head, sales/counseling head and international growth lead in Sales Navigator.
• Record one Loom per person (five in total) before Day 2. Each is personalised to that person's part of the problem.
• The Jan 2026 funding round comes from Tracxn with no amount disclosed. Don't mention a figure.
• Don't name xPay customers. Say "edtech and travel companies, including listed ones" only if xPay confirms it.
• The Harshit Unscripted invite must be genuine. Only send it if you would actually record the episode.

Sources

• xPay: Best payment solutions for Indian SaaS going global
• xPay: How to accept international payments in India (2026 guide)
• xPay: India's international payment gateway fees
• xPay homepage
• Business Standard: Winspark eyes IPO after two years of profitability (Aug 2025)
• HDFC Sky: Winspark FY26 revenue projection and IPO plan
• Inc42: How PlanetSpark reached break-even (Mar 2025)
• Tracxn: PlanetSpark profile (Jan 2026 round, headcount)
• YourStory: PlanetSpark across 13 countries
• Inc42: 25% of revenue from international users (older disclosure)