Article · ~12 min read

7 Lessons from Building an India-Based Global SaaS Business

Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks) via The Works · Freshworks, The Works Free Beginner India

Freshworks sold its first customer (a school in Australia) four days after launch and grew to a NASDAQ IPO without a US sales team in the early days, making it the definitive proof that Indian founders can sell globally from day one. This is the founder's own distilled playbook, not secondhand analysis.

  • Act like a global company from inception even as a tiny Chennai team targeting the world
  • Find a live market pain (Zendesk's price hikes) and be there when the door opens
  • Hire for hunger and drive over pedigree in your early sales and product team
  • Authenticity and founder story can resonate globally even without a known brand
Open on freshworks.com ↗

It answers 2 questions

  1. Can an Indian startup sell to global enterprises, and what's different about doing it from India?
  2. How is validating a B2B idea different from validating a consumer app?

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