Special Briefing: Freshworks—marrying the art of Indian entrepreneurship and the science of Valley scaling

Girish Mathrubootham never went to one of India’s premier technology schools—the IITs—nor did he attend one of its hallowed business schools—the IIMs. But, he’s just made corporate and tech history in India, with Freshworks, the company he founded more than 10 years ago, becoming the first cloud software venture started by an Indian founder to start an IPO in the US. Freshworks filed its initial registration prospectus for a listing on the Nasdaq, on August 27. Here’s a conversation with Mathrubootham, from February, shortly after Freshworks hit $300 million in annual revenue. He spoke about shifting to the US, his billion-dollar revenue ambition, thoughts on a US listing, and how Covid-19 gave him a chance to take better care of himself