Rising up from humble beginnings and early struggles, Mathrubootham created a Rs 95,000 crore software giant in a brief span of 10 years.
Girish Mathrubootham’s story is one of persistence paving the way from ordinary to extraordinary. Rising up from humble beginnings and early struggles, Mathrubootham created a software giant in a span of less than 10 years.
At 46, he is the Founder and CEO of Freshworks Inc., the Chennai-born, and now US-based, company that is behind the most recent blockbuster IPO at the New York Stock Exchange which didn’t just her raise the company $1 billion (over Rs 7,000 crore), but also made 500 of its employees crorepatis overnight. Here’s how Girish Mathrubootham scripted his inspiring success story.
1. Studying on borrowed money
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Hailing from a middle-class family belonging to the town of Trichy in Tamil Nadu, Girish decided to pursue engineering after school and landed in Chennai. An average student, he was unable to get on to merit list. In 1992, Girish decided to do MBA and asked his father for money. A government servant on an ordinary pay, Girish’s father had to seek a loan from a relative for his management aspiration.
2. Early struggles and failures
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Struggles and challenges arrived early in his life. At age seven, Girish witnessed the separation of his parents, a moment that he believes made him mature early and become self-dependent. In career, multiple failures came his way with unsuccessful startups. In between he had stints with multiple companies include with HCL in the US and finally with Zoho before founding his successful venture.
3. The turning point
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After 9 long years in a well-paying and comfortable job at Zoho, a comment on a website inspired Girish to create a new IT Helpdesk product. In 2010, he launched Freshworks (as Freshdesk) along with his friend and colleague Shan Krishnasamy our of a small 700 ft warehouse in Chennai.
4. Creating a Rs 95,000 crore company in 10 years
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His company went from Rs 0 in revenue to $100 million in 8 years and from there to $200 million in the next year and a half. Headquartered in California with global offices in India, Australian the UK, and Germany, Freshworks today is worth over Rs 95,000 crore ($13 billion) with more than 50,000 customers around the globe, a list that includes brands like Honda, Hugo Boss, Citizens Advice Toshiba and Cisco.
5. Rajnikanth, football and family
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Girish is a huge Rajnikanth fan and has been known to use his phrases avidly. He is also a patron of football, having founded the grassroots youth football club, FC Madras. Girish is also a family man, who rang the IPO bell alongside his wife, two kids and a cute little dog. He brought the family culture to Freshworks, where around 76% of the employees are shareholders, 500 of which became crorepatis with the successful IPO.
