Mathrubootham: Indian software buyers expect custom development over off-the-shelf products
Girish Mathrubootham · Girish Mathrubootham: Biggest Product and Pricing Lessons from Scaling to $597M in ARR | E1142 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Apr 19, 2024 · at 10:14
Girish Mathrubootham is the founder and CEO of Freshworks, a global SaaS company that originated in India. He contrasts the buyer expectations of Indian software customers with those of Western markets.
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“So I think to some extent that could be true, but also India Indian customers are used to a services mindset. Like if you go to us or Australia, customers there know that they are buying A shrink wrap product. They know that, Hey the product is the product. If I like it, I'll buy it. If I don't like it, I don't buy it. And if I have some feedback, I'll give the feedback. If I need a feature, I'll ask and wait. Imagine going to Microsoft office and asking for a feature, like when are you going to get it? So I think global customers have that awareness. Indian customers have been used to a lot of services mindset where they would say, Hey, why don't you come to my office? I'll tell you what needs to be built and you build it.”
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Mathrubootham: No enterprise software company has successfully transitioned down to SMB
“Oh, start high and go down never, never works. In the history of software, you can tell me which company has succeeded in starting at enterprise and actually winning in SMB. It's not happened. But if you look at many companies, including Salesforce and Freshwo…”
Mathrubootham: Building company culture without in-office presence remains unsolved
“I did not know. I still don't know how to build culture when nobody's coming into the office.”
Users will replace Google search with ChatGPT for software product discovery
“तो यही भविश्य है लोग खोज के लिए Google पर नहीं जा रहे हैं बलकि चैट GPT पर जा रहे हैं इसलिए हमें वह करने की जरूरत है”
Freshworks maintains transparent public pricing for mid-market and enterprise customers
“अब हम यह साफ रखते हैं कि हमारी कीमते खुली होगी, यह सब कुछ website पर ही available होगा”
No Indian venture capital fund focused specifically on B2B before Together Fund
“उस समय एक भी VC फंड नहीं था, जो B to B पर focused था”
Indian SaaS startups win by expanding globally before targeting domestic market
“If we win globally and then go to India, like the chances of success are actually even better. Like if you see most of the even Indian startups who are doing well, like I would say BrowserStack, Chargebee some of the newer age companies they're all global comp…”