Putting the Freshworks IPO in Context (Part 3)

Broader Implications

I have been watching with delight how the Indian startup ecosystem is celebrating the success of Freshworks. 

Indian entrepreneurs have found their celebrity role model in Girish Mathrubootham.

Chennai is celebrating their local hero.

Trichy is celebrating their local boy.

THIS is the kind of celebrity I had called for when I wrote my Forbes column in 2009. Twelve years later, the Indian startup ecosystem has found the kind of starpower with which to create a celebrity role model.

You see, Sridhar Vembu, one of my personal role models, could not be this celebrity. His journey is too far off the beaten track. He has bootstrapped to a billion dollars in revenue. Who does THAT?!

He has moved to a small village in Tamil Nadu. Who does THAT?!

Besides, Sridhar has the same kind of elitist pedigree (IIT Madras, Princeton) that prompt entrepreneurs to ask: “Do I have to be from an MIT, IIT, or IIM to be a successful entrepreneur?”

No. Girish comes from a modest background that resonates with a much larger audience.

Girish has raised tons of venture capital and has received immense media attention with each funding round.

Girish has taken Freshworks public, and is getting enormous international coverage.

THIS is how a celebrity profile is built.

And Now?

So now that India has Girish Mathrubootham as her celebrity son who is taking on Salesforce with a global platform, where do we go from here?

Well, we go to the heartland.

In August 2012, I met an entrepreneur called Bimal Patwari who had built a $6M company from Durgapur, West Bengal. Durgapur is a relatively small industrial town in the heartland of India. 

In January 2020, I was giving a keynote at TiECon Kolkata. Bimal was there. In his own address, he spoke to me directly (I was sitting in the front row): “Sramana, we’ve crossed $45M!” 

We had dinner here in Silicon Valley in February 2020.

I learnt more about how.

There are such success stories emerging all over India.

Now, we need local celebrities like Girish throughout the country.

Guwahati needs its own Girish Mathrubootham, as does Goa.

Photo Credit: OnManorama

This segment is part 3 in the series : Putting the Freshworks IPO in Context
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