Spotlight On

Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside’s career reads like a tour through the world’s most complex operational challenges: opening new markets at pre-IPO Google, wrangling billion-dollar losses at Motorola, guiding Impossible Foods from scrappy upstart to mainstream staple. At every turn, he’s proven himself as a singular operator, able to translate bold visions into strong teams, scaled business, and real results, no matter the industry or product. In this episode of Spotlight On, Accel’s Sameer Gandhi sits down with Dennis to talk about how Freshworks—the first Indian SaaS company to list on Nasdaq—honors both its Chennai heritage and its global customer base, tips for thoughtfully succeeding a founder, and why Freshworks’s engineers cross continents to meet customers face-to-face.

According to Veza co-founder and CEO Tarun Thakur, you don’t just found a startup once. Instead, you found and refound it many times over: as you achieve product-market fit, as you land your first investment, as you scale from a team of three to 200 and beyond. In this episode of Spotlight On, Tarun sits down with Accel’s Eric Wolford to discuss how this theory of continuous reinvention has shaped the identity security company’s growth—and his own. He explores how working with a coach has transformed his leadership style, highlights “trust” the most critical ingredient in co-founder relationships, and recounts the story of how a two-page document from an early prospect changed Veza’s vision of both the problem they were solving and the solution. Tarun also shares what he’s learned about building an effective go-to-market motion, including why Veza’s first hire was an SDR and how to execute a “land and expand” strategy. 

Sara and Vas debrief on Vas’s recent trip to India, how founders use geography to their advantage, and what tech can learn from LVMH  about taste. They also share some advice for founders on pitching their stories to investors. This Week’s Five TakeawaysWhere you build can shape how you win. On his recent visit to India, Vas noticed a verve for the messy work of systems integration and solutions engineering he hadn’t seen elsewhere. Different geographies impart strategic advantages, whether it’s talent with a knack for rolling up sleeves, a longtime connection to a particular industry, or simply a certain kind of ambition in the air.  Commodified code requires aspirational brands. As AI lowers barriers to production, there’s been a lot of chatter about taste (we love Sarah Guo’s essay on this). But taste is more than a buzzword; it’s a durable business advantage. (Just look at LVMH and Herman Miller.) Founders should study how luxury brands build worlds for which their products are the ticket to enter.Taste is more than your color scheme and logo. Aesthetic instincts are a start, but the most interesting companies right now are pairing those instincts with a nuanced, almost anthropological understanding of their customer. Taste applied is all about solving the right problems with thought and charm.The founding designer is having a moment. Taste as an ascendant differentiator means designers are taking more prominent roles, earlier. And whether you’re aiming upmarket or targeting the masses, this key early hire can ensure you’re delivering on your brand promise in a way that feels coherent and consistently delights your customers and users.5. It’s okay to talk about the messy parts of building a company. Don’t be afraid to show your work when discussing your project with an investor. That includes false starts, discarded ideas, and tests that didn’t go as planned. These stories often contain nuggets about how you think and work that are really what’s important to a potential partner.

Most of us think of space as a future possibility. The reality is that space is our present: everything from our maps apps, bank transactions, and national defense depends on operations currently floating in orbit around us. That strategic importance also makes space vulnerable. Enter True Anomaly: the defense startup is dedicated to protecting the United States and its allies’ activity in space. In this episode of Spotlight On, Accel’s Jonathan Turner sat down with True Anomaly Co-Founder and CEO Even Rogers to discuss his leap from uniformed service to life as a first-time founder and the fast-evolving landscape of space defense. Their conversation covers: Even’s path into the space tech industry, why designing for space means you have to “invent the universe”, setting and sticking to your goals, selecting the right team, and why True Anomaly has learned to view failure as a critical part of the process—and developed a standard for doing it well.

George Kurtz, Founder and CEO of CrowdStrike, shares his wealth of knowledge from over 30 years in cybersecurity. He discusses how AI has reshaped the threat landscape, making advanced attack techniques accessible to lower-tier actors. Kurtz reflects on the critical importance of robust infrastructure for scalable security and emphasizes lessons from F1 racing on teamwork and mental toughness in business. He also delves into the evolving strategies necessary to tackle today's complex cybersecurity challenges, driven by emerging AI technologies.

Guillermo Rauch, Founder and CEO of Vercel, shares his journey from a young computer enthusiast in Argentina to a trailblazer in web development. He discusses the simplicity of software distribution and how it shaped his vision for Vercel. Topics include Vercel's robust infrastructure that supports e-commerce during peak times, the creation of pivotal tools like Next.js, and the importance of rapid feedback in product development. Rauch emphasizes the role of innovative solutions in connecting lofty ideals with real-world needs, inspiring future tech entrepreneurs.

Patty McCord, author and former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix, and Jessica Neal, former Chief HR Officer and Venture Partner at TCV, dive deep into the evolution of Netflix's groundbreaking culture deck. They discuss its deliberate 'brutal' design, unique compensation strategies, and share what every founder can learn about culture-building. Their insights include navigating the complexities of employee terminations, the importance of effective DEI practices, and how true workplace fulfillment stems from meaningful work, not just perks.

Welcome to a Very Brief Short Report: (kinda) short listens on the biggest ideas in tech right now, from Accel’s Vas Natarajan and Sara Ittelson. This week, Sara and Vas try to make sense of the “chaotic change” happening as they share observations from Accel’s latest portfolio review. They discuss why teams that collaborate in-office are thriving, how data isn’t the moat it once was, and what it means when everyone’s vibecoding (Sara and Vas’s teen nephew included).This Week’s Five TakeawaysThe energy is snapping back to San Francisco. Tech talent dispersed across the US (and the world) during the pandemic. Lately, we’re seeing an uptick in teams collaborating five days a week, right here in SF.As switching costs ease, data becomes less of a moat. Portability is easier than ever. When platforms can quickly gather—and, more crucially, use LLMs to make sense of—enterprise data, businesses need to consider how else they can drive retention. The pain of migrating simply isn’t enough to get a contract renewed.A lot of talented people are founding right now. It’s an exciting time to build, with AI lowering barriers to entry and powering rapid scale. It’s also more competitive than ever. A slick demo and a world-class team are the default assumptions—you need to bring an additional edge, like a distribution advantage or a discerning sense of taste.Build vs. buy is coming to consumers. Enterprises with massive developer teams have always had the option to simply build custom solutions. Vibecoding gives end-users this option, too.Creativity is in a moment of “IKEA-fication.” AI means everyone’s a medium-level creator. But there’s real hunger for products and experiences that feel deeply human. Make something that feeds people’s craving for connection and authenticity, and you can command a premium price point.

In this conversation, Eoin Hinchy, Founder and CEO of Tines, shares his journey from security roles at companies like DocuSign and eBay to creating an automation platform that revolutionizes workflows. He discusses the power of teamwork, refusing conventional Silicon Valley norms, and the lessons learned by breaking away from the traditional startup playbook. Eoin reveals how Tines, born in Dublin, tailors its technology to meet diverse industry needs while ensuring customer satisfaction drives growth and innovation.

From the beginning, the backend-as-a-service platform Supabase has done things a little differently. Building on Postgres instead of a proprietary engine. Putting data portability at the core of their product. Going all-in on global hiring from day one. And yes, naming themselves after a Nicki Minaj song because they thought it would make a funny meme. The meme has stuck, but Supabase has scaled. In this episode of Spotlight On, Supabase CEO and co-founder Paul Copplestone joins Accel’s Arun Mathew and Gonzalo Mocorrea to discuss how these contrarian bets have paid off, and how the platform has stayed true to its “by developers, for developers” roots. Their conversation covers: why Supabase bet early on Postgres and data portability, the difference between “playing startup” and strategy, how they manage an entirely distributed team, and how a founder’s role changes as the company grows.