{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"First Principles","title":"Part 1: Girish Mathrubootham of Freshworks on why he doesn't measure 'winning' by numbers","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3966,"description":"If you're here to find out more about our brand new early careers podcast, check out The First Two Years and how you can join the TFTY community here! You can also listen to our trailer on Spotify and Apple. \nWelcome to Episode 41 of First Principles.\nWhen asked, Girish Mathrubootham* – the CEO and Co-Founder of Freshworks, says that there’s one thing most of his direct reports would agree about him – that he leads from the heart. \nMany Freshworks employees have a different way of describing Girish. He’s a product manager first, and then a CEO. \nProduct and People are thus two words to describe Girish. \nOne of them - Product - was something he got into accidentally. But both of them are areas where he’s built organisational strengths and culture very intentionally. \nThe news headlines when Freshworks went public on NASDAQ was that Girish had created 500 crorepatis within his organization. That is, employees whose Freshworks shares made them worth over 1 crore rupees.\nFreshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to become a unicorn. It was also the first Indian SaaS company to be listed on the US markets. Last year it clocked revenues of nearly 600 million dollars. All before its 15th birthday. \nAcross this episode, Girish the product manager is front and centre. It was evident in the way that he rattled off sharp and fun analogies to explain how he views Freshworks and his role at the organization as a CEO. It was almost as if Freshworks the company itself were an organically evolving product, with its CEO also its lead product manager. \nAnd to think that Girish’s entry into product management came over two decades ago when his then manager told him to build a product he had pitched – and essentially become a “product manager.” That day, he went back home and googled what a product manager is. \nHe has very sharp and distinct views on leadership and organization building. As a leader, he’s opposed to measuring performance by numbers or execution alone. \nHis metric...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/ZPjguY9ABfvbemOPTrjXRW3XKosLSKk1tzX-F51gCWw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82N2E1/MjUwZmE5M2ZlZTZh/NzFjZjcwNjVlMGQ3/ZjkxOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}