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<ul><li><keyword id="2167965" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="girish-mathrubootham" source="Orion">Girish Mathrubootham</keyword> is the co-founder and CEO of <keyword id="4621694" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshworks" source="Orion">Freshworks</keyword>, which is worth nearly $13 billion.</li><li>“The point is you don't have to fight at that point of time, you don't have to react or respond, but to use it to fire to do something creative,” he says. </li><li>The 46-year old Mathrubootham shared stories from his life’s journey, from his parents’ divorce to scornful relatives, and how he dealt with the down moments in his life, in an interview with Business Insider.</li></ul>“I have had relatives who have told me that I am only good enough to be a rickshaw puller,” says Girish Mathrubootham, the man who went on to build Freshworks, one of the biggest software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies in India. <br /><br />With a valuation of $13 billion, Freshworks has become the first decacorn (a startup valued at over $10 billion) in this space and the first Indian SaaS company to<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/freshworks-ipo-the-success-story-of-indias-first-saas-company-to-be-listed-in-us-stock-exchange/articleshow/86453444.cms"> list on Nasdaq</a>. In a candid conversation with Business Insider, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) opened up about his early life and the challenges he overcame. <br /><br />The 46-year old Mathrubootham remembered the scornful remarks from 1992, when he couldn't score high enough in his class 12 and entrance exams for engineering ⁠— not from his parents but his relatives ⁠— while speaking about how he dealt with the down moments in his life. “The point is you don't have to fight (the naysayers) at that point of time, you don't have to react or respond, but to use it to fire to do something creative,” Mathrubootham says. <br /><div type="Video" msid="86606660" hostid="261" title="A candid conversation with Freshworks founder and CEO, Girish Mathubootham" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=86606660"></div><br />“The other thing to do is truly follow your heart, you will be happy,” he adds, while citing multiple examples from the Indian film industry including Rajkumar Hirani’s blockbuster 3 idiots. “Madhavan [R Madhavan, who plays Farhan in 3 Idiots] says, ‘It’s okay I will not have enough money but so what, I will be happy as a wildlife photographer’,” Mathrubootham recites the dialogue.<br /><br />                      <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div><br /><strong>‘Success is not always about money’<br /></strong><br />He had moved back to India from the US after the dotcom bubble had burst at the turn of the millennium. From earning $85,000 a year in 2001, he was back in India at a job that only paid him ₹40,000 a month in 2005-06.<br /><br />His father, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/meet-girish-mathrubootham-founder-and-ceo-of-freshworks/articleshow/86453777.cms#:~:text=Girish%20Mathrubootham%20is%20the%20star,so%20that%20his%20employees%20could.">a retired bank officer today</a>, was concerned because in his eyes all of Girish’s friends were successful with well paying jobs and had bought their own house. Girish, on the other hand, only had the in-hand salary and a two-bedroom apartment on a loan. <br /><br />“People’s definition of success is different. I was looking at being happy. So I was going after what made me happy, not chasing money. I was enjoying my career, building products and having fun, my friends knew that but I think that was okay,” he adds.<br /><br /><strong>‘Differentiating the well wishers and well informed’<br /></strong><br />Mathrubootham doesn’t take advice from everyone. “If you are Sachin Tendulkar, who do you take advice from — Gary Kirsten or the other man who is there in every Tendulkar match with the Indian flag painted on his body,” he says. <br /><br />He was referring to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudhir_Kumar_Chaudhary">Sudhir Gautam</a>, a die-hard fan of Tendulkar and one who would famously be seen in every match that Team India played at home. “The said man (Sudhir Gautam) is a well wisher but Kirsten has more knowledge about this field,” Mathrubootham adds.<br /><br />                <div type="image" title="Someone said I am good enough to be a rickshaw puller,&amp;quot; shares Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham in a candid chat" msid="86508163" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Sudhir Gautam&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />“I don’t give the key to my happiness to anyone and recommend my wife to do the same,” Mathrubootham says. <br /><br /><strong>An early jolt that made him independent<br /></strong><br />Mathrubootham was young when his parents got divorced. "I would just say that experience also made me who I am and so in a very simple sense that I had to kind of fend for myself, take my own decisions and be accountable for those decisions," he says, adding he doesn’t like taking decisions on other peoples’ part including that of his own children.<br /><br />If you take all the decisions for your children until they’re 25, how do you expect them to go out into the world, he adds. “Decision making also needs experience,” he believes. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO<br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/meet-girish-mathrubootham-founder-and-ceo-of-freshworks/articleshow/86453777.cms">Girish Mathrubootham, the son of a retired bank officer who built a $13 billion company in just 10 years<br /></a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-lists-on-us-exchange-gives-tribute-to-rajinikanth-during-the-listing-ceremony/articleshow/86452943.cms">Landmark moment for this Rajinikanth fan’s SaaS startup on listing at US exchange<br /></a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/we-asked-three-spacetech-entrepreneurs-what-it-takes-to-enter-the-field-and-they-listed-out-the-opportunities/articleshow/86484417.cms">We asked three spacetech entrepreneurs what it takes to enter the field and they listed out the opportunities</a><br />

WATCH: "Someone said I am good enough to be a rickshaw puller," shares Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham in a candid chat

<ul><li><keyword id="4621694" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshworks" source="Orion">Freshworks</keyword> made its debut in the US-based Nasdaq on September 22 and it is the first Indian SaaS company to do so.</li><li>Freshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to achieve a billion dollar valuation, in 2019.</li><li>The company has now crossed a $10 billion valuation, thanks to its public listing.</li></ul>The Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry had already been growing exponentially since last year, but Freshworks’ public listing at Nasdaq has taken it all to another level. The company, which makes customer engagement software for businesses, was valued at a whopping<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-500-crorepatis-12-billion-market-cap-and-more-that-emerged-from-indias-first-saas-listing-at-nasdaq/articleshow/86445614.cms"> $12.2 billion </a>after it opened 21% above the initial offering price of $36 apiece.<br /><br />Freshworks sold 28.5 million common shares, hitting an intraday high of $48.75 on September 22.<br /><br />Freshworks was founded over a decade ago by <keyword id="2167965" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="girish-mathrubootham" source="Orion">Girish Mathrubootham</keyword> and <keyword id="2167964" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shan-krishnasamy" source="Orion">Shan Krishnasamy</keyword>. Both the co-founders were former employees of Zoho Corp, which too is one of the biggest SaaS companies in India. Both Zoho Corp and Freshworks are rivals and the biggest players in this industry.<br /><br />Here is a glimpse of Freshworks’ journey so far:<br /><table class="redcator-table-advance" style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6em; box-shadow: none; width: 910.922px; font-family: Merriweather; padding-bottom: 10px !important; background-image: inherit !important; background-position: inherit !important; background-size: inherit !important; background-repeat: inherit !important; background-attachment: inherit !important; background-origin: inherit !important; background-clip: inherit !important;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Year<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Development<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Early 2010<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Girish Mathrubootham decided to start his entrepreneurial journey. Shan Krishnasamy too decided to join this venture as a co-founder.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">October 2010<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Mathrubootham and Krishnasamy resigned from Zoho Corp.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">December 2010<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks, then known as Freshdesk, incorporated in the USA due to lack of recurring payment solutions in India.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">March 2011<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Created a team of six people — three developers, one UI/UX designer, one customer acquisition/support engineer and Mathrubootham himself as product manager and CEO.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">December 2011<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Raised $1 million in a funding* round led by Accel.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">August 2015<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Acquired co-browsing and live video chat provider 1CLICK.io. This was Freshdesk’s first acquisition.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">August 2015<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The company crossed 50,000 customers.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">June 2017<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshdesk rebranded to Freshworks.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">June 2017<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The platform was used by 100,000 companies in 145 countries.<br /><br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">December 2018<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks turned unicorn, after raising $100 million at a valuation of more than a billion dollars.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">November 2019<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks valued at $3.5 billion, after raising $150 million.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">November 2019<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">It crossed 150,000 customers.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">March 2020<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Zoho Corp filed a lawsuit alleging that Freshworks stole confidential information and built a business out of it.<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">August 2021<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks filed for $100 million IPO in USA<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">September 2021<br /><br /></td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks made its debut on Nasdaq and its valuation touched $12 billion.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table><em>*Freshworks has raised one funding round every year since 2011. There was a year-long break in 2017, when the SaaS firm did not raise any capital.<br /></em><br />Freshworks and Zoho’s rivalry took a serious turn in 2020, when Zoho filed a lawsuit <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/zoho-says-freshworks-intentionally-accessed-database-in-new-us-lawsuit/articleshow/79413070.cms">alleging</a> that Freshworks stole confidential information and built a business out of it. Vembu-led company has also accused Freshworks of poaching its employees and customers. The battle is still ongoing.<br /><br />According to a report by investment firm Chiratae Ventures and consulting firm Zinnov last month, the Indian SaaS segment has the potential to clock a total turnover of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/india-software-service-sector-needs-more-than-200000-employees-by-2025/articleshow/84632003.cms">$75 billion</a> by 2025. Companies like Zoho, Freshworks, and others are expected to be at the forefront of it.<br /><br />Freshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to achieve a billion dollar valuation, in 2019. A year later, the company closed another round at a valuation of $3.5 billion. It is backed by some of the prominent investors across the globe — Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Accel, Steadview, CapitalG and more.<br /><br />The company raised another billion dollars through its public issue. It’s valuation also increased over three times to $12.2 billion.<br /><br />The SaaS giant has acquired 13 companies to date including AnswerI1Q, Flint, CanvasFlip, Natero, and Zarget, among others.<br /><br />"I feel like an Indian athlete who has won a gold medal at the Olympics. We are showing the world what a global product company from India can achieve,” Mathrubootham said, in an <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/freshworks-ipo-creates-more-than-500-crorepatis-in-india-with-70-of-them-aged-below-30-7496681.html">interaction </a>with Moneycontrol. He further claimed that the <keyword id="11167545" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshworks-ipo" source="Orion">Freshworks IPO</keyword> has made 500 crorepatis in India, 70 of which are under 30.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/vodafone-idea-and-airtel-need-tariff-hikes-agr-moratorium-might-not-be-enough-say-analysts/articleshow/86285450.cms">Vodafone Idea and Airtel need tariff hikes, AGR moratorium might not be enough, say analysts</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-vodafone-idea-and-jio-welcome-telecom-relief-package-but-analysts-are-divided-on-whether-it-is-enough/articleshow/86252002.cms">Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Jio welcome telecom relief package, but analysts are divided on whether it is enough</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/airtel-challenges-telecom-departments-demand-of-1400-crore/articleshow/86260516.cms">Airtel challenges telecom department's demand of ₹1,400 crore</a>

The success story of India’s first SaaS company to be listed in Nasdaq

<ul><li>Freshworks became the first Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm to get listed on a US exchange by raising $13 billion on its debut day.</li><li>The IPO created 500<em> crorepatis </em>in India, 70 of them are under the age of 30.</li><li>There are many more reasons why the startup industry is cheering for the <keyword id="11167545" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshworks-ipo" source="Orion">Freshworks IPO</keyword>.</li></ul>Apparently, the startup world can’t keep calm because not everyday does an Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm get listed on a US exchange by raising $13 billion dollars on its debut day.<br /><br />Icing on the cake is that the Freshworks IPO has also created a whole lot of wealth for its employees. 500 <em>crorepatis</em> (millionaires) in India, 70 of them are under the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-500-crorepatis-12-billion-market-cap-and-more-that-emerged-from-indias-first-saas-listing-at-nasdaq/articleshow/86445614.cms">age of 30</a>.<br /><br />Interestingly, Girish Mathrubootham, co-founder and chief executive officer of Freshworks, who is a big fan of Rajinikanth, names the opening ceremony event on Nasdaq as ‘Project Superstar’ in tribute to the famous Indian actor.<br /><br />There are many more reasons why the startup industry is cheering for the Freshworks IPO launch. Here are a few reactions from the India Inc: <br /><br /><strong>Freshworks IPO is a ‘snowball moment’ for India’s SaaS industry<br /></strong><br />"An IPO is one more feather in Freshwork and Girish's hat! I strong believe they would build a long standing institution. The most gratifying part is to see the wealth created for their team, and energy they have helped propel in the India SAAS ecosystem - installing confidence in founders /to-be founders that great companies can be built from scratch. This is a snowball moment for India SAAS, and I am excited that we at Speciale are live and investing in this vibrant and growing startup ecosystem,” — <strong>Vishesh Rajaram, founder and managing partner of Speciale Invest<br /></strong><br /><strong>This startup accelerator feels this is a Neeraj Chopra moment for the industry <br /></strong><br />"Salesforce was the first SaaS IPO in the world in 2004. It served as a big inflection point for the entire SaaS Industry and which today, after 15 years, has an enterprise value of $2 trillion dollars. Freshworks - as the first Indian SaaS company to go IPO - acts as a similar inspiration to a growing number of SaaS startups from India. Every Indian SaaS founder is cherishing this moment just like the nation celebrated Neeraj Chopra winning Gold at the Olympics,” — <strong>Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, partner at Upekkha Value SaaS Accelerator<br /></strong><br /><strong>Now the important question is who will achieve this feat next?<br /></strong><br />"Successful listing of Freshworks on NASDAQ is a “Eureka” moment for the B2B SaaS sector in India which will inspire many upcoming start-ups to spread Indian product software across the globe. This feat by Freshworks showcases the potential for Indian SaaS start-ups to build globally disruptive technology product companies. It also showcases an immense amount of talent and the passion for entrepreneurship &amp; execution the Freshworks team embodies, and we (as in the Indian startup ecosystem) are eager to find out who will achieve this feat next,” — <strong>Ankur Bansal, cofounder and director at BlackSoil<br /></strong><br />“Every SaaS founder in India would have a story or two about how they got inspired by Girish and the Freshworks story. Freshworks IPO makes the story they believed and got inspired by all the more real and their aspirations all the more possible. To the next 10 Indian SaaS IPOs!,” — <strong>Mayank Agarwal, cofounder at SendX<br /></strong><br />“Freshworks has paved the path for future SaaS Companies that are building from India and selling globally. This is just a start of what we can see in the upcoming decade where a ton of Indian SaaS Companies will be going public. As Girish had mentioned yesterday that he feels like winning an Olympic medal, it is equivalent or more and motivates the next generation of SaaS Founders to build and go public,” — <strong>Harshit Agarwal, chief executive officer at Appknox<br /></strong><br />SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-500-crorepatis-12-billion-market-cap-and-more-that-emerged-from-indias-first-saas-listing-at-nasdaq/articleshow/86445614.cms">Freshworks IPO — 500 crorepatis, $12 billion market cap and more that emerged from India’s first SaaS listing at Nasdaq</a><br /><br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/voltas-havells-india-and-blue-star-stocks-have-gained-10-24-on-hopes-of-strong-demand-this-festive-season/articleshow/86448471.cms">Air conditioner brands Voltas, Blue Star, Havells rally ahead of festive season</a>

Landmark moment for this Rajinikanth fan’s SaaS startup on listing at US exchange

<ul><li><strong><keyword id="12512340" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jaswantiben-Jamnadas-Popat" source="Orion">Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat</keyword> was conferred the Padma Shri award on Tuesday.</strong></li><li><strong>She is one of the founders of Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad.</strong></li><li><strong>Jaswantiben began her journey with an investment of ₹80 along with six of her friends.</strong></li></ul>On March 15, 1959, Jaswantiben along with six of her friends met on a terrace in Girgaum, Maharashtra and started making papads, using a sum of ₹80, which were <a href="http://www.lijjat.com/Organisation/TheBeginning.aspx">borrowed</a> from Chhaganlal Karamshi Parekh, a social worker. <br /><br />Today, the brand is called Lijjat Papad, and it has grown to be a ₹1,600 crore business with 81 branches and employs over 45,000 women across the country, all of whom are considered co-owners in the enterprise.<br /><br />Recognising her journey, the Indian government gave the Padma Shri award, the fourth highest civilian award in the country, to the 91-year old entrepreneur.<br /><br />While most people may not recognise her by name, it is unlikely that you are unfamiliar with her product. If you are someone who watched television during the 90s, you will probably remember the popular Lijjat Papad jingle with a hand puppet bunny chomping on crispy papad.<br /><br />  <div type="Youtube" id="lSYMX6PmT34" title="Lijjat Papad Commercial - Doordarshan Ad/ Commercial from the 80's &amp; 90's - pOphOrn" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lSYMX6PmT34/mqdefault.jpg"></div><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="A humble beginning" comment="subhead" text="A humble beginning"><span data-til="noop">A humble beginning</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />Jaswantiben, who hails from Mumbai’s now affluent Girgaum area, began her journey as an entrepreneur to contribute towards her family’s income.<br /><br />While she did not have any knowledge about running a business, her hard work and courage allowed her to start this venture. She started making papads with Parvatiben Ramdas Thodani, Ujamben Narandas Kundalia, Banuben. N. Tanna, Laguben Amritlal Gokani, Jayaben V. Vithalani, and Chutadben Amish Gawadem.<br /><br />“Making papads does not require education, which is why we started Lijjat,” Jasnatiben says in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSz27aGjqog">interview</a>. “Everyone here is a partner and does not work for any other person, which was one of the factors that enabled women to join at the beginning,” she adds.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="Lijjat Papad" msid="87648084" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Lijjat Papad&amp;#39;s logo.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />“We do not require anyone to pay money, we do not check their caste or religion or do any background checks while adding a partner, where else will you find such a partnership business,” asks Jaswantiben.<br /><br />The group first made a batch of four packets of papads, which were sold to a businessman. Soon after that, the group increased from seven members to twenty-five and later the group registered as Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad and in 1962, it was renamed to Lijjat Papad.<br /><br />The papads are sold across the country and even exported to countries like the United States, Singapore, United Kingdom, Thailand and Netherlands among others.<br /><br />Not just papads, now Lijjat also sells masalas, atta, chapati and even detergent. The organisation has also had its share of failures, such as cottage leather, match sticks and incense sticks, which had to be shut down.<br /><br />“The credit of Lijjat Papad goes to every woman working here. This recognition is the fruit of their hard work,” Jaswantiben said while speaking to <a href="https://www.shethepeople.tv/top-stories/inspiration/jaswantiben-jamnadas-popat-lijjat-papad/">SheThePeople</a> after being awarded the Padma Shri.<br /><br />Jaswantiben-led Lijjat Papad believes in the principle of self-reliance and does not accept any donations or contributions. To ensure that the members do not lose out on employment, the company does not use machines and till date rolls the papads using hands despite making over 4.5 billion papads each year.<br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Equal profits" comment="subhead" text="Equal profits"><span data-til="noop">Equal profits</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />Every woman that joins Lijjat is called a Lijjat Ben (Sister) and is given equal share in the profits. Jyoti Naik, the former president of Lijjat Papad during an <a href="https://www.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/15spec.htm">interview</a> had revealed that Lijjat’s committee consisting of 21 members decides how profits are to be distributed.<br /><br />“Even a <em>ben</em> who has recently joined gets the same share as others who have been with us longer,” she said.<br /><br />The profits are usually distributed by purchasing gold coins -- either 5 grams or 10 grams, depending on the profit.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/sanjiv-goenka-makes-a-billion-dollar-comeback-to-the-worlds-biggest-t20-stage/articleshow/87277384.cms">Sanjiv Goenka makes a billion dollar comeback to the world's biggest T20 stage</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/nethra-kumanan-the-first-woman-sailor-from-india-to-qualify-for-the-olympics/articleshow/81984720.cms">Meet Nethra Kumanan — the first woman sailor from India to qualify for the Olympics with a love for Bharatnatyam</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/freshworks-ceo-girish-mathrubootham-shares-someone-said-i-will-be-nothing-but-a-rickshaw-puller/articleshow/86507840.cms"><strong>WATCH: "Someone said I am good enough to be a rickshaw puller," shares Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham in a candid chat</strong></a><br />

The 91-year old woman behind India’s most famous papad brand gets the fourth highest civilian honour ⁠— she started with ₹80

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Freshwork's CEO Girish Mathrubootham sees a massive opportunity to disrupt the customer engagement market, and has created a company that provides software for all the interactions a company might have with a customer. </li><li>"Customers are used to having a platform and then integrating all these tools. So today if you walk into any company, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/crm">CRM</a> stack is unwieldy...so what we believe is the exciting opportunity of the future is building the CRM platform of the future," Mathrubootham told Business Insider.  </li><li>The company just raised $150 million in Series H funding, in a round led by Accel, Sequoia, and CapitalG, to continue growing. </li><li>Sameer Gandhi, a partner at Accel said Freshworks offers a unique product that helps businesses manage every step of interaction with a customer in one platform, as opposed to many, and offers a use-friendly way to do so. </li><li>Freshworks has 250,000 customers globally and many are small to medium sized businesses or mid-market businesses.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summarymary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul><p>In 2010, Freshwork's CEO Girish Mathrubootham saw a massive opportunity to change the way companies do customer support. He was moving back to India from Austin, Texas in 2009, where he had been working as an engineer for Zoho. During the move his TV was damaged by the moving company, and he had no luck getting a response or solution from the moving company. </p><p>At that point he said he got frustrated and shared his experience in an online forum. That post changed everything. He noticed how engaged the online community was in solving the issue - enough that the moving company eventually reimbursed him for his damaged TV. </p><p>"That's when I realized something was changing in the world of customer support, where I realized that as a customer I had a newfound power to take on a company," Mathrubootham said. He realized he had to capitalize on this opportunity and started a customer support company called Freshdesk in 2010.</p><p>In the 10 years since, Mathrubootham has grown the company  from its customer support focus, which India is a hub for, into a platform that provides software to help manage every interaction a customer has with a company, from marketing to customer support. The company is now called Freshworks and is headquartered in San Mateo, California, although the majority of its employees are still based in India, with offices in 10 other locations, including London, Berlin, and Sydney.</p><p>His goal with Freshworks is to create a new customer relationship management platform that includes everything needed for a company to interact with a customer from beginning to end. This includes marketing and sales automation, messaging and email campaign management, among other things, to help manage relationships with customers. </p><p>He said he saw a need for a streamlined, user-friendly tool for companies to be able to do this that didn't yet exist in the market.</p><p>"Customers are used to having a platform and then integrating all these tools. So today if you walk into any company, the CRM stack is unwieldy...so what we believe is the exciting opportunity of the future is building the CRM platform of the future," Mathrubootham told Business Insider.  </p><p>The company just raised $150 million in Series H funding, led by existing investors Sequoia Capital, CapitalG, and Accel, to continue growing. This new funding gives Freshworks a valuation of $3.5 billion, as it targets a potential IPO next year, although it doesn't have a set timeline yet, Mathrubootham said. Accel's India arm gave Freshworks its seed funding of $1 million in 2011. </p><h2>Salesforce is a giant, but there's room for competition</h2><p>In the CRM market, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/salesforce">Salesforce</a> is the big behemoth, but Mathrubootham thinks there is room to disrupt. "It's been almost 20 years since anything new happened in CRM, so there is room for a technology refresh," he said. He added that he thinks there is a better solution where customers don't need to integrate services on top of a "bare bones" CRM platform. </p><p>Sameer Gandhi, a partner at Accel who led this funding round, agreed, and said that he thinks the market is big enough for many different options, and it is not a "winner take all" market.</p><p>"We really think Freshworks can be incredibly successful in this market, and it doesn't have to be at the expense of a Salesforce. Frankly there's a lot of other vendors out there too," Gandhi told Business Insider. </p><p>He said what drew Accel to Freshworks was that it was doing something unique in the CRM space. Mathrubootham had created a tool that was simple and intuitive to use, in a way that other products in the sector weren't. And the product is well targeted toward the type of small to medium sized businesses that mainly use the platform. </p><p>"It's a really unique approach that you'd have to stitch together with a bunch of different kinds of solutions in other cases," Gandhi said. </p><p>Freshworks has 250,000 customers globally. Many of these are small to medium sized businesses or mid-market businesses. However, Gandhi said the product is also popular with smaller groups within large businesses. Some larger companies that use the product are Sotheby's, Bridgestone, DISH, Sling, and Vonage.</p><p>Mathrubootham said the company plans to use the money raised in this round to continue growing before looking towards an IPO. </p>

The CEO of Freshworks had an idea 10 years ago when his TV was damaged by movers. Now his startup is worth $3.5 billion and is threatening Salesforce.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Courtesy of Freshworks</span></p><p class="caption">Freshworks CEO and co-founder Girish Mathrubootham now runs one of India's first unicorns.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Freshworks, an India-based sales and customer service software company, announced a $100 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation.</strong></li><li><strong>This makes it one of India's first unicorns - and the country's only unicorn in the <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="enterprise">enterprise</keyword> software space.</strong></li><li><strong>The funding was led by Accel and Sequoia with participation from Google's CapitalG.</strong></li></ul><p>Like many startup founders, the trajectory of Girish Mathrubootham's career changed because of an aha moment. </p><p>The Chennai, India-based Mathrubootham had just moved back home after living some time in Austin, Texas. A television he shipped during his move arrived broken, and he wasn't having any luck getting through to customer service to get reimbursed for his troubles.</p><p>As these stories go, Mathrubootham knew there had to be a better way to get customers in touch with the companies that serve them. So he co-founded Freshworks - then known as Freshdesk - to do just that.</p><p>"When we started Freshworks in 2010, we were a single product company with a goal of offering better, easier-to-use customer service software than what was in the market," Mathrubootham said in a statement.</p><p>On Tuesday, Freshworks announced $100 million in funding from Silicon Valley investors Accel and Sequoia, with participation from Google's CapitalG. The company is now valued at $1.5 billion, making it the first enterprise software unicorn to ever come out of India, according to the company.</p><p>And in June, the company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/freshworks-reaches-100-million-in-annual-recurring-revenue-unveils-freshworks-360-1027315582">announced</a> another milestone: $100 million in annual recurring revenue, thanks to customers like Honda and Cisco. </p><p>While India has deep connections to the US tech industry, so far it has yielded very few globally successful startups. One major exception to that is Flipkart, an e-commerce company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/walmarts-stock-price-flipkart-acquisition-has-one-analyst-questioning-whether-the-company-can-fulfill-a-big-promise-it-just-made-to-shareholders-2018-5-1025004268">which sold to Walmart</a> for $16 billion in May. </p><p>But Freshworks investors think the 8-year-old startup - which positions itself as a low-cost alternative to customer service, sales and marketing platforms such as Salesforce and ServiceNow - could prove an exception to the rule.</p><p>"Sequoia first backed Freshworks in 2016 and didn't hesitate for a moment to double down on the investment," Sequoia investor Mohit Bhatnagar said in a statement. "Girish and his team have worked relentlessly to build Freshworks into a leading SaaS company from India - one that is truly global with customers across 127 countries."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-explains-the-problem-with-healthcare-in-america-2018-7">Cigna's CEO says that the problem with healthcare in America has nothing to do with employers</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A Salesforce competitor just raised $100 million from Silicon Valley investors to become India's first enterprise software unicorn

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Drew Angerer/Getty; Phil Long/AP; Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of Trending, the newsletter that highlights the best of BI Prime's tech coverage.</p><p>I'm Alexei Oreskovic, Business Insider's West Coast bureau chief and global tech editor. If you like this email, tell your friends and colleagues that <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/trending">they can sign up for the newsletter here.</a></p><h3>This week: Andrew Yang and his loyal "knights" of the valley</h3><p>While much of the US was tuned in to the public impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill this Wednesday, a few dozen techies in San Francisco convened at the home of tech entrepreneur Sam Altman to focus on another political story.</p><p>Andrew Yang, the Democratic party presidential hopeful, was in town for a fundraiser. BI's Melia Russell <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-elon-musk-regulating-big-tech-2019-11">managed to get into the event</a> so that she could see firsthand why so many techies are head-over-heels for Yang. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Nati Harnik</span></p><p class="caption">Andrew Yang</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As she reports, Yang is someone who speaks the techie language.</p><p>Sure, it might help that he doesn't want to break up Big Tech as some of the other candidates do. But Yang isn't promising a libertarian, laissez-faire society. During the event he talked up how he shares Elon Musk's belief that AI needs to be reined in.</p><p>When it comes to artificial intelligence technology, he told Melia, "going as fast as possible could have some real drawbacks or negative effects. And so, you need a different set of incentives than 'just go as fast as possible.'" </p><p>His newly-unveiled tech policy blueprint, including a tax on digital ads and the creation of a "Deparment of the Attention Economy," would also put new burdens and constraints on tech companies. </p><p>Yang is preaching a tech-savvy and industry-active brand of regulation - "you can't take a sledgehammer to these problems," he says - that plays well with the Valley's we-know-best mentality. He even suggested "knighting" the techies at the event, so that they could make the government operate more efficiently.</p><p>That's earned him trust, and money, from a lot of the tech industry elite. The problem is, the tech industry has lost everyone else's trust. </p><h3>Read the full story here:</h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-elon-musk-regulating-big-tech-2019-11">Andrew Yang wants to regulate big tech without breaking it up and says his fan Elon Musk is in full support</a></h3><h3>Werner in the cloud with diamonds</h3><p>Amazon insiders don't appear overly worried about the company getting split up by the government, in any case. </p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-werner-vogels-break-up-spinout-2019-11">In an interview with Julie Bort,</a> Werner Vogels, the head of Amazon's AWS cloud business, insists that the topic never comes up internally. </p><p>"We have no intention of doing anything like that," he says. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters/Richard Brian</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Vogels defends the benefits of being a giant, multi-business corporation, telling Bort that "the synergies are just too good" to ever consider breaking up. </p><p>Those "synergies" are exactly what critics like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders contend are giving Big Tech companies unfair advantages. To judge by Vogels' response, Amazon is either playing ignorant to these concerns, or simply choosing to defy them.  </p><h3>Read the full story here:</h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-werner-vogels-break-up-spinout-2019-11">Amazon never talks internally about breaking up or even spinning out new units, CTO Werner Vogels says</a></h3><h3>Silicon Valley's next frontier in workplace relations</h3><p>On a lighter note, Rob Price has staked his claim to the insufficiently-covered corporate restroom beat.</p><p>His first <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-facebook-yelp-internal-newsletters-memos-toilet-stalls-2019-11">dispatch from the field reveals a trend that's spreading throughout Silicon Valley</a>: official company outreach - including memos, workplace training drills and other communiqués - in toilet stalls. </p><p>Google was first to implement the idea years ago, but a growing list of tech companies, including Yelp and Walmart's Jet.com, are now adopting the practice. </p><p>It's the latest, and perhaps most intrusive, example of Silicon Valley's never ending quest to maximize worker productivity. </p><p>If this Silicon Valley innovation is as successful as smartphones and instant messaging, it may soon become standard throughout the country. But I can't help wondering why the world's most cutting edge companies are using old-fashioned paper, and not a digital format, to reach their toilet-bound toilers.</p><h3>Read the full story here:</h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-facebook-yelp-internal-newsletters-memos-toilet-stalls-2019-11">Efficiency-obsessed tech firms are sticking newsletters on toilet stall walls to keep employees productive while they poop</a></h3><h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Samantha Lee/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></h3><h3><strong>Other recent tech highlights:</strong></h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-salesforce-deal-shows-amazon-on-the-offensive-2019-11">A big new deal with Salesforce shows Microsoft is 'on the offensive' in the cloud wars, even as it puts Amazon under pressure for trying to 'go it alone'</a></li><li><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-capital-vc-hiring-to-increase-startup-investing-europe-2019-11">Early Google and Apple backer Sequoia Capital is actively hiring to boost its investments in European startups</a></p></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-oracle-amazon-forrester-report-2019-11">IBM and Oracle are so far behind in the cloud, they might stop trying to compete with Amazon altogether and go a different route, analyst says</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/freshworks-ceo-huge-opportunity-to-disrupt-customer-service-market-2019-11">The CEO of Freshworks had an idea 10 years ago when his TV was damaged by movers. Now his startup is worth $3.5 billion and is threatening Salesforce.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stoke-talent-used-this-pitch-deck-to-raise-45-million-2019-11">2 months after Israeli startup Stoke was founded, it raised $4.5 million. Here's the pitch deck it used.</a></li></ul><h3><strong>And more from across the BI newsroom:</strong></h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-backed-fair-struggled-after-explosive-growth-say-insiders-2019-11">SoftBank-backed startup Fair burned through nearly $400 million in 10 months. Insiders reveal how Softbank stepped in and cleaned house in the wake of WeWork.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-recession-peter-schiff-us-will-default-on-national-debt-2019-11">'We're going to have to have a severe recession if we're ever going to build a viable economy': Here's why one market expert says the US is doomed to default on its debt no matter what</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-the-restructuring-of-walmarts-law-department-2019-11">Inside a restructuring of Walmart's legal department that's dragging on longer than execs promised. Some employees are exiting, and one used a meme of Al Pacino to say goodbye.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bezos-softbank-farming-startup-plenty-insiders-2019-10">A futuristic farming startup raised $260 million from Jeff Bezos and SoftBank on the promise of upending agriculture. Insiders are raising questions.</a></li></ul><p>That's it for this week. As always, I'm eager for your feedback, thoughts, and tips - you can email me at aoreskovic@businessinsider.com. And if you like this newsletter, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/trending">please tell your friends and colleagues they can sign up here to receive it</a>.</p><p>Alexei</p><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/40-big-tech-predictions-for-2019?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=amazon&amp;itm_campaign=40-big-tech-predictions-for-2019-2"></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-submit-your-own-emoji-start-finish-2019-8">Apple just released iOS 13.2 with 60 new emoji and emoji variations. Here's how everyday people submit their own emoji.</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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WATCH: "Someone said I am good enough to be a rickshaw puller," shares Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham in a candid chat

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The success story of India’s first SaaS company to be listed in Nasdaq

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The 91-year old woman behind India’s most famous papad brand gets the fourth highest civilian honour ⁠— she started with ₹80

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The CEO of Freshworks had an idea 10 years ago when his TV was damaged by movers. Now his startup is worth $3.5 billion and is threatening Salesforce.

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A Salesforce competitor just raised $100 million from Silicon Valley investors to become India's first enterprise software unicorn

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Andrew Yang and his loyal 'knights' of Silicon Valley

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