First Principles

Girish Mathrubootham, CEO of Freshworks, shares insights on decision-making from his childhood, openness in sharing growth strategies, and his involvement in SaaSBoomi. He emphasizes the importance of reflecting on actions, giving back to the community, and the evolution of software products in organizations.

Sometime in the early 1970s a young Harsh Mariwala joined Bombay Oil Industries, a company set up by his grandfather in 1948, just a year after India’s independence. The company would trade in spices, oils and chemicals.Over the next two decades Harsh learnt the ropes of the family business. Till in 1991 - two decades after he had joined Bombay Oil - he left it to start his own company, Marico.He had already seen the power of quality and brand in a category that was still almost entirely commoditized and unbranded. For instance, the huge 15 liter tin cans of Parachute coconut oil Bombay Oil sold to shopkeepers were resold in smaller quantities at much higher prices. Harsh rightly wondered, why should someone else capture the margin and premium for my product? The company that Harsh founded - Marico - had two powerful brands at its core - Parachute Coconut Oil and Saffola cooking oil. That is true even today, 33 years later. Nearly 1 in 3 Indians use Parachute oil, our research tells us. Of course, a lot else has changed since then. Marico, which went public just 5 years after being founded in 1991, today boasts a turnover of over 1.2 billion dollars. And Harsh is 72, but still learning, exploring, experimenting and unable to take it easy.Earlier this week, I had the chance to speak to Harsh about his entire (and might I add still evolving) professional journey!It’s a long time, but Harsh talks about the day Marico was separated from Bombay Oil just like it was yesterday. He talked about how in 1991 they attracted talent by positioning themselves as the disruptive outsiders. Sample one of the headlines from Marico’s ads: 200 employees walk out of Bombay Oil. Harsh had a lot of stories for me – from creating differentiation in consumer products even when the market is crowded, to how he fought back and won against the much larger Hindustan Unilever when it wanted to acquire Marico. And then he switched back to the present – and how he’s focussing all his learnings, experience, attention into cultivating innovation in India. This is an episode packed with anecdotes and lessons – you’ll hear Harsh talking about a ‘right to win’ in the market, strategizing acquisitions, and making ‘a difference without expectations’ to the shareholders. All in the context of Harsh’s years at Marico, the Mariwala Health Initiative, Ascent foundation and Marico Innovation Foundation! Let’s go!This is episode 42 of First Principles–a weekly leadership podcast from The Ken.

Join Girish Mathrubootham, CEO and Co-Founder of Freshworks, as he dives into the art of heart-led leadership and its profound impact on workplace culture. He shares his unique journey from a product manager to a visionary CEO, emphasizing that success isn't just about numbers. Discover his insights on navigating change, the evolving landscape of VC-backed startups, and how Freshworks cultivates a nurturing environment for its employees. Plus, Girish reflects on his deep connection to Chennai, blending heritage with innovative business practices.

Vaibhav Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of Udaan, navigates the thrilling yet chaotic waters of hyper-growth startups. He discusses the delicate dance of making high-stakes decisions without relying on patterns. Listeners will hear about Udaan's warehouse innovations, maintaining intellectual honesty in valuations, and the need for transparent leadership. Gupta also shares insights on adapting to an evolving B2B landscape while balancing professional ambitions with personal life, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and feedback.

Exploring how 5 founders prioritize patience and trust in building company culture. Topics include empowering teams through delegation, embracing work as a game, fostering constructive feedback, long-term dedication, selfless leadership, and intentional leadership styles. Each founder shares insights on navigating early business challenges, markers of effective leaders, and the virtue of patience in organizational success. They emphasize the hands-on approach founders take in shaping company culture over time.

Welcome back to Episode 39 of First Principles!A few weeks ago, you heard the first part of our conversation with Aneesh Reddy, the CEO and Co-Founder of Capillary Tech, a software company offering products and services in the customer experience space.And you might remember that in that episode, Aneesh took us through the journey of Capillary in instalments – because as he explained, Aneesh dreams in instalments. The second instalment was the years 2013 to 2018 – which Aneesh called “Capillary’s confusing years.” They were particularly difficult years for them. Having raised a massive amount of venture funding at an expensive valuation, Capillary started burning cash as they expanded ambitiously beyond India. The leadership had to justify their valuation, Aneesh said. During this time, Aneesh’s co-founder Krishna Mehra, or KK, had moved to San Francisco in the US. Communication between the co-founders started breaking down even as the pressure on Capillary Tech started mounting.Eventually, both of Aneesh’s co-founders left within months of each other. But before leaving, KK was upfront with Aneesh. He told Aneesh that he had become a bully. He wasn’t workable anymore.Aneesh went to the Capillary board and told them he wanted to quit. In this second part, you’ll hear the two things that Aneesh ended up doing to bounce back. The first was executive coaching. A difficult process, because Aneesh, in his own words, ‘was a hard nut to crack.’ Eventually, the coaching process proved to be so transformative for Aneesh, that Capillary today offers coaching to not just its entire leadership team but also down to first-time managers. The second, very interestingly, was Vipassana. And again, as Aneesh explained, it was very difficult at first. But it changed him. He calls it a process of self-discovery and self-purification that every entrepreneur should experience.In this episode, Aneesh talks to me about how these two interventions transformed him and Capillary. He takes me through both processes – day by day, in the case of Vipassana — and how it made a difference to his temperament, leadership style, and his approach to managing.We also talk about Aneesh’s fitness journey, finding a purpose in working, and the future of Capillary. This is episode 39 of First Principles—The Ken’s weekly leadership podcast.

Vaibhav Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Udaan, discusses evolving from a marketplace to a first-party business, Udaan's culture pillars, and daily conversations within the leadership team. They also explore Udaan's mission to transform India's trade ecosystem, challenges faced by retailers and traders, and how Udaan improves access and efficiency in wholesale purchasing.

Welcome back to Episode 37 of First Principles.If you’re here to find our latest edition of the First Principles Newsletter, here you go!A few weeks ago, we had a wonderful conversation with Viren Shetty – the executive vice chairman of Narayana Health.  Narayana Health – formerly called Narayana Hrudalaya – is a hospital network that’s also listed on the stock exchanges. Today’s episode is the second part of our conversation with Viren. In part 1, Viren talked about healthcare in India – something he described as an “assembly line.” If you remember listening to it, you’ll know that Viren has both intricate knowledge and undeniable intuition about the healthcare landscape in India. We discussed Viren’s ambitions to fix healthcare in India and where Narayana Health is headed. That led us to why Viren holds this mission so close to his heart, in this second part of our conversation.What led him to healthcare? What drives him to wake up and do this, day after day? In our opening, you heard about Viren’s innate pattern recognition superpower, which is very different from his father Dr. DeviShetty’s.So, how did he build this intuition? And how does he use it to run a vast hospital network?Viren answers all of these questions with stories from his life, career and even from the hospitals where he grew up. This is episode 37 of First Principles—The Ken’s weekly leadership podcast.P.S. Please recommend your favourite books for the First Principles community here!

Welcome to Episode 36 of First Principles!If you're here to find our latest edition of the First Principles Newsletter, here you go!Our guest for this episode is Aneesh Reddy, the co-founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies, a Bangalore-headquartered software-as-a-service – or SaaS – company that is one of the global leaders in customer loyalty and engagement.Capillary powers the customer loyalty operations of hundreds of companies around the world. From companies like Domino’s, Puma, Shell, Marks & Spencers, and the Tata Group, to 15 of the world’s top Fortune 100 companies. Each time you transact at one of their stores or respond to a marketing message or upgrade your room, it’s probably Capillary’s tech at play behind the scenes. In its 16th year now, Capillary powers close to 7 billion annual transactions for its customer’s customers.But – and there’s always a but in great stories – Capillary and Aneesh didn’t have an easy ride.They went through multiple economic downturns. They raised large venture rounds and expanded globally, only to shut down many of those operations after losing millions of dollars. Of the three co-founders, two left. One having burnt out and the other because Aneesh was too stressful to work with.Aneesh himself wanted to quit. But his board wouldn’t have it.In this episode, Aneesh explains how CapillaryTech bounced back from this point, by slicing  their journey into three  “dream installments.”He also talks about:How CapillaryTech “bounced” into SaaS in a global recession The breakout SaaS model that gets them $1 million deals Building a people-first organization Learning and changing as a leaderThis is episode 36 of First Principles—The Ken's weekly leadership podcast.P.S. Please recommend your favourite books for the First Principles community here!

A few weeks ago, we published an episode with Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors. We discussed what it was like to bet your future on an idea that no one had tried before, in India.  In Soumya’s case, that idea was a business model around wealth management.You might remember Soumya saying it really wasn’t easy. Her peers had doubts. Her clients had doubts. Her family had doubts. She had doubts. But she dug her heels in. 12 years in, Waterfield Advisors is now India’s largest multi-family office and wealth advisory, managing over 40,000 crores for its clients. We covered a lot of ground around Waterfield’s early years. And then, we took a break. We had some coffee, looked around the studio offices, and came back in to record again. And slowly, the next hour of our conversation became about looking ahead. Soumya detailed her vision to me. Waterfield is planning to expand to Dubai this year. And perhaps even more international offices after that. In fact, Soumya said, she wants to build an organization like J.P. Morgan – out of India.JP Morgan traces its history nearly 150 years back. So naturally, I asked Soumya: how do make sure you build a company that’s around for 10, 20…even 50 years? How do you build a truly defensible and lasting moat?Her answer was very interesting. Soumya said Waterfield will continue what it started with – never manufacturing their own products, and continuing to remain only an advisory.She explained, Waterfield would never go into distribution – which is where the money is. It will always be an advisory. Again, Soumya has a big bet – she believes that Waterfield needs to give up growth and scale in the short term, to succeed in the long term. And in this episode, she explains why this will work. We also talk about: --> Being unapologetic about entrepreneurship--> Learning to let go as a CEO--> How to use AI as a friend --> Building a ritualistic work ethic This is episode 35 of First Principles—The Ken's weekly leadership podcast.P.S.: If you have any submissions for book recommendations, interesting reads, #SilentSunday pictures or songs for the First Principles newsletter, send them here.