IANS | 29 Jan, 2024
Despite the funding winter induced by tightening global monetary
environment, Indian startups saw $8.4 billion of capital pour into them
in 2023. Over the last couple of years, Indian startups have embraced
the new normal of having to improve unit economics, shorten their path
to profitability and look to build strong and resilient businesses with
the ultimate goal of going public.
When it comes to IPOs, perhaps
no other startup listing has been as instrumental as Freshworks, in
signalling the coming of age of Indian tech.
Being the first
software-as-a-service (SaaS) company from India to list on NASDAQ, it
brought the SaaS sector into the mix of primarily consumer internet and
fintech companies that have filed for IPOs in India.
Founded in
2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy as Freshdesk, the
company rebranded itself as Freshworks in 2017. It counts the likes of
global venture capital firm Accel, among its earliest investors.
“We
entered the red ocean market by choice…...with Freshworks, our whole
goal was business model disruption,” said Mathrubootham in an interview
as a part of a new series, PitchCraft, by SeedToScale, an open-source content and community platform for early-stage startup founders.
“The
deck is a very important first impression for the investor….” said
Mathrubootham while deep diving into his storytelling approach and
strategy that went behind creating his initial pitch deck which helped
him secure funding from Accel.
Now donning the hat of an investor
on the other side of the table with Together Fund, the Rajnikanth fan
recalled how he had never made a pitch deck before 2010.
“I had to google what a pitch deck is,” said Mathrubootham.
He
credited Venture Hacks, a blog dedicated to startup advice, in giving
him a structure to build his deck upon, focusing on communicating the
strength of the team, business traction, size of the market etc.
Today,
the Freshworks’ Founder looks at “craftsmanship” in pitch decks of
founders, emphasising that a pitch deck is a very important first
impression maker to an investor.
“Investors want to know whether a founder has the right to win…”
The first Freshworks pitch deck, which is available to be downloaded from SeedToScale, had its core team as the first slide.
“Magic happens with the team…...the strongest aspect of Freshworks in 2011, and even now in 2024 is the people.”
Commenting
on his hiring strategy in the early days of Freshworks, Girish said “If
I know that somebody is good, I'll just hire them, I bet on the people,
and then we'll figure out the right role for them later.”
The conversation
also brought in the investor viewpoint. Shekhar Kirani, partner at
Accel, who wrote the first seed cheque for Freshworks weighed in on what
gave him conviction to back Girish’s vision more than a decade ago.
Having
backed many Indian SaaS unicorns such as Amagi, BrowserStack, Chargebee
and Zenoti, the seasoned VC investor believes what truly sets a
compelling pitch deck apart is the meticulous attention to detail.
“In
Freshworks case, every word, every sentence, and every slide had a
purpose, painting a clear picture of their vision and strategy. The
confidence and depth of experience in the team was evident, highlighting
their expertise and ambition to make a global impact,” said Kirani.
The series PitchCraft by SeedToScale aims to democratise the art of creating a compelling pitch deck for early-stage founders and future builders.
