The entrepreneurial journey of Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham is not short of exciting twists, but when you ask him the one thing that may inspire other entrepreneurs, he says it’s how he has made the least obvious choice at various points.
Mathrubootham opens up about the key inflection points in his business journey and how he responded to these in his new book ‘All In.’
The entrepreneur officially launched the memoir, written along with writer Pankaj Mishra, on Saturday, as he turned 50. The book is set to hit the stands on April 15.
“There have been many difficult and counterintuitive decisions that shaped my life,” Mathrubootham told businessline. “I had a Rs 12,000 job after I finished my MBA but I rejected that and took up a less-paying software job because it was then a sunrise industry. People around me could not understand it,” he said. “What I am trying to say is that it’s not always the obvious choice; you should be ready to take those risks,” Mathrubootham adds.
“I think takeaway [for entrepreneurs from the book] is that to be successful in business you don’t necessarily have to be Ivy League-educated or have friends in VCs or any of that. Normal people with normal backgrounds and difficult childhood can achieve their dreams,” he said.
From his school and college life to what he learnt about the software world from mentors like Kumar Vembu during his stint at Zoho to taking the leap with Freshworks, the book charts all his milestone moments.
Not surprisingly, it also has an entire chapter dedicated to Superstar Rajinikanth, a person Mathrubootham referred to as his ‘Manaseega Guru’ as Freshworks went for an IPO back in 2021. “There is an entire chapter on him; I shared it with him recently and he sent me a voice note that it was great,” he said.
The role played by his family, especially his wife, is part of the memoir. It also dwells on the relationship he shares with American venture capitalist Lee Fixel, an early high-profile backer of Freshworks who played a key role in the journey to its IPO.
Will his journey inspire the Chennai start-up ecosystem to take more action?
Mathrubootham says the city is as vibrant as any other when it comes to entrepreneurship. “You look at some of the companies in Chennai now; it’s a thriving ecosystem. There are around 70 start-ups that have come out of Freshworks alone,” he said.
