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Welcome to Episode 41 of First Principles.

When asked, Girish Mathrubootham* – the CEO and Co-Founder of Freshworks, says that there’s one thing most of his direct reports would agree about him – that he leads from the heart.

Many Freshworks employees have a different way of describing Girish. He’s a product manager first, and then a CEO.

Product and People are thus two words to describe Girish.

One of them - Product - was something he got into accidentally. But both of them are areas where he’s built organisational strengths and culture very intentionally.

The news headlines when Freshworks went public on NASDAQ was that Girish had created 500 crorepatis within his organization. That is, employees whose Freshworks shares made them worth over 1 crore rupees.

Freshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to become a unicorn. It was also the first Indian SaaS company to be listed on the US markets. Last year it clocked revenues of nearly 600 million dollars. All before its 15th birthday.

Across this episode, Girish the product manager is front and centre. It was evident in the way that he rattled off sharp and fun analogies to explain how he views Freshworks and his role at the organization as a CEO. It was almost as if Freshworks the company itself were an organically evolving product, with its CEO also its lead product manager.

And to think that Girish’s entry into product management came over two decades ago when his then manager told him to build a product he had pitched – and essentially become a “product manager.” That day, he went back home and googled what a product manager is.

He has very sharp and distinct views on leadership and organization building. As a leader, he’s opposed to measuring performance by numbers or execution alone.

His metric for “winning” – as in, winning as an organization – is shaped by energy and vibes.

He isn’t just hiring the best talent for a role. He’s giving the right role to the best talent.

In this episode, you’ll understand this curious mix of people and product that keeps the lights on at Freshworks. Girish talks about why a company like Freshworks – which entered and continues to play in a crowded and competitive market – succeeds. Why and how he’s made peace with growing at close to 20% annually, so long as he’s also aiming for around the same percentage in profits.

And what the best way is to chart a path to entrepreneurship in this day and age.

And, also – why he loves Chennai so much!

This is episode 41 of First Principles—The Ken's weekly leadership podcast.

*Girish Mathrubootham is an investor in The Ken.

Samantha Ege, "South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago's Classical Music Scene" (U Illinois Press, 2024)