“There is no reason for an employee to quit Freshworks because G is not the CEO,” said Girish Mathrubootham, Founder of the Chennai/US-based Freshworks, who is fondly referred to as G by his employees and friends. His comments to businessline was in response to many employees worried about the company’s future and may quit over the surprise announcement made by Freshworks on May 1 that Dennis Woodside will take over as CEO from Mathrubootham will be Executive Chairman.
The $597 million Software as a Service provider was started by Mathrubootham 14 years ago after a long stint with Zoho where he was involved in development of various products. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freshworks serves more than 67,000 global customers, including American Express, Blue Nile, Bridgestone, Databricks, Fila, and OfficeMax.
“I told people that there is no farewell party for me. You will not miss me and I will spend more time in Chennai and with the product teams.,” he said. “If I wanted to go away from Freshworks, I would have become non-Executive Chairman, and this option was available. I am executive chairman, paid salary by the company and get stock options. Employees need not worry,” he said.
“I will take it as a compliment that I have been a good manager and people have that emotional connection with me. However, It is not about who the CEO is, but about the environment, the culture, colleagues and how much they are learning; valued and respected and how their managers are keeping their employees inspired. All of these are factors. This will be a legacy I would like to leave behind where we have created a company that is bigger than an individual,” he said.
On May 2, Freshworks Inc, a Chennai/US-based IT company, surprised the SaaS industry and its employees by appointing Dennis Woodside, who was earlier the president, as its CEO. Founder Mathrubootham assumed the role of executive chairman and will remain the chairman of the Board of Directors.
The company’s stock price nosedived by nearly 25 per cent on Nasdaq post the earnings and management rejig and there was unease among employees about Freshworks without ‘G’ as he is fondly called by his team. In their first joint interview to a media house, the duo told businessline that the transition was planned well ahead since Dennis came on board in 2022.
“I am continuing as Executive Chairman and continue to be with the employees; get salary and ESOPS. I am going to be with Dennis as his advisor and his co-pilot,” said Mathrubootham.