Girish Mathrubootham: Biggest Product and Pricing Lessons from Scaling to $597M in ARR | E1142

Girish Mathrubootham is the founder and CEO of Freshworks, India’s first SaaS company to list on NASDAQ. Today, Freshworks has over $596M in ARR with a $5.27BN market cap, with investors like Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, and CapitalG. Girish is also a founding member of SaaSBOOMi, Asia’s largest community of founders and product builders, and has invested in over 60 startups. On top of that, Girish is also the Founder of Together Fund, a $150M fund focusing on Indian B2B companies going global from day 1. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:26) Founding Freshworks (04:28) Product Market Fit & Pricing Strategy (06:31) Global Expansion & Indian Market (13:08) Importance of SEO & Keyword Targeting (18:41) Transitioning From SMB to Enterprise (20:38) Lessons on Second Product Expansion (25:31) Hiring Challenges & Lessons (30:18) Balancing Product Suite (33:04) Product Not Working (35:07) Leadership Style (35:54) Creating an Environment of Performance (37:45) Challenges in Building & Maintaining Culture (38:26) Relationship to Money (40:36) Indian Tech Ecosystem (42:27) Liquidity Markets in India (49:08) Biggest Investing Mistake (50:55) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Girish Mathrubootham We Discuss: 1. The Founding Moment Behind Freshworks: How did a horrible customer service experience prompt Girish to start Freshworks? What was the aha moment? What were Girish’s biggest challenges founding Freshwork in 2010? How was building the first product? What worked? What didn’t work? 2. Scaling Freshworks to a Global Company: Why does Girish believe Indian companies have to win globally before winning India? What were Girish’s biggest mistakes scaling Freshworks? What were his lessons? Why does Girish believe starting high and going down never works in software? When does Girish think is the best time to build the second product? How did Freshworks lose against Slack? What did he learn from the experience? 3. Becoming the Best Leader: How has Girish’s leadership style changed over time? What were Girish’s biggest hiring mistakes? What was Girish’s biggest challenge in building culture during COVID? What is one piece of advice Girish believes every CEO should follow? 4. Investing in the Future of India Tech: Why does Girish believe now is the time for India tech? What are the most common misconceptions of India tech? What traits does Girish look for in founders he invests in? What was Girish’s biggest investment mistake? What did he learn from it? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Girish Mathrubootham on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrgirish Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #girishmathrubootham #freshworks #product #partnership #founder #venturecapital #hiring #techworld #leadership