Bangalore | Chennai: India’s software as a service sector has the potential to compete with the country’s $194 billion IT services industry. Girish Mathrubootham, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer freshworks Inc.-
First Indian SaaS Startup to be Listed on Nasdaq.

In conversation with ET’s Alnoor Peermohammed and Diya Rekhi, Mathrubhumi said that apart from opening the door for other Indian SaaS firms to go public,
Freshworks IPO Creates Huge Wealth for its employees. He said more than 500 employees have become millionaires, of whom 69 are below 30 years of age.

Edited excerpt:

would you say Freshworks going public is proving right for the Indian mother-in-law After reaching the global level, and do you think it will inspire more Indian SaaS companies to tap the public markets?

Ten years ago, the number one problem for Indian startups was a lack of exits.
when flipkart exitedI think it was a big moment. Going public is really the kind of exit that investors want because it’s a huge opportunity, and it will supercharge the ecosystem.

I call it the Roger Bannister moment. He was the first athlete to break the record for running a mile in under four minutes, and soon after, you had tons of other athletes who did. I see this moment at FreshWorks as the equivalent of that.

There are more startups waiting in the wings, and we’ll see them all come out in the next few years. I personally believe that SaaS for India is as big as the IT services moment in the 90s.

Read also:
Freshworks’ Nasdaq listing resonates in India’s startup ecosystem

If the rules allowed it, or made it easier, would you prefer to be listed on the Indian stock exchanges?

Different companies have different realities. We have been a global company since day one. Our customers are in over 120 countries and from day one all of our revenue is recognized in the US. We are structurally a US-headquartered company, and so I think freshworks listing Made a lot more sense in America.

Indian market is also good
Zomato had a great IPO. Whether you’re listed in India or the US, that’s good, but for Freshworks we thought it was the right direction.

Two-thirds of your employees are shareholders. Was this by design and how have your employees reacted to this listing?

It’s something we’ve always wanted to do. I am personally passionate about employee wealth creation. There is an interview in The Economic Times from 2015 where I said that I told my wife that I am not starting Freshworks to buy BMWs, I am starting it so that all my employees can buy BMWs
(Read the interview here). I think today we are delivering on that promise and all FreshWorks employees are happy.

I am very happy and grateful for all the contributions made by the employees, as I truly believe that I am not building FreshWorks, we are all building FreshWorks together.

Employees who have actually participated in the creation of this company should share the rewards. More than 500 of our employees in India will be millionaires, and 69 of them are under the age of 30.

It’s one of those big dreams you’ve made, but what are you waiting for going forward?

We’re going to have a really big celebration today, because it’s a milestone worth celebrating. But it’s zero again for Freshworks. We are really inspired by the huge opportunity ahead of us. We have a huge $120 billion market opportunity, so if you look at it, we just scratched the surface.

We really want to be the most reputed product company to come from India. I will say that I’m still fresh, I’m all set, and we’re going to lead the entire FreshWorks family to dream about that dream and move on.