Freshworks was initially launched in 2010 by Girish Mathrybooham and Shan Krishnasamy as a completely free helpdesk system for all of its clients worldwide.
There, they set out to give customers any assistance they required at the touch of a button, but with time, Freshworks developed into a company that provided customers with cutting-edge technologies in the ITSM and CRM fields.
The business appears to have expanded significantly to reach this point, with offices being located in India, UK, Australia, and Germany in addition to its San Bruno, California, headquarters.
After deciding to rebrand, (earlier Freshdesk) the business understood that they needed a name that would instantly draw visitors and convey a sensation of freshness, much like what one experiences while strolling along the beach in the morning.
They always considered themselves to be a multi-product firm even before they could actually get to where they are now. They even discussed 40 domain names that were closely related with the word “fresh” in their discussion. The two of them labored assiduously and used Freshdesk to accomplish the 1000 customer milestone with Shan’s assistance. He continued to advance the goals and success of his business by acting on advice from another entrepreneur who advised him not to alter the company’s story during the course of the journey.
Simply put, if you have to cater to a new start-up, you should concentrate on attracting investors’ attention rather than trying to locate another outlet so that you may raise more money for the original start-up and then tend to the success after the latter.
The founders have been really interested in the logo when it comes to picking one for their start-up; it has a hint of morning wind that blows across grass. Additionally, there is a cup of cocoa with droplets on the window glass. In order to enhance the attractiveness of the scene, waterfalls and bread leaves have also been added.
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The need to be rebranded
When Freshsales first launched in 2016, they immediately began to receive an overwhelming amount of good feedback. This was a sign that they would eventually see faster growth than their other businesses, Freshservice and Freshdesk. They came to the realization that they were no longer merely a helpdesk programme after this.
However, this change in emphasis caused confusion among the clients. People began questioning us if we were competitors of Fresh Desks instead of the warm greetings from their families they had previously extended to us. This was the first step in our rebranding of Freshsales, but it was a very important strategic choice to make since if it went wrong, the entire company could collapse. As a result, they had to decide between two options: keeping the original Freshdesk name but renaming the other products, continuing to use Freshdesk to draw in clients, or simply creating a new umbrella brand.
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After much deliberation, they finally reached a decision and moved forward with the latter plan, which included naming their products differently and developing a brand-new umbrella company called Freshworks. Freshdesk’s strong customer support made it tough for them to challenge it, and if they continued to use Freshdesk as the mother brand, the subsequent branch names wouldn’t be as glamorous because they were similar to the mother brand; they would sound more like Freshdesk CRM, Freshdesk IT, etc. The creator of Freshworks preferred it that way, which was the main driver behind moving through with it.
Just to name a few investors:
- They acquired $1 million in Series A funding from Accel in November 2011, to mention a few of their backers. Additionally, they later invested $7 million in Series C in November 2013.
- In April 2012, Tiger Global Management joined forces with Accel and made a $5 million Series B investment.
- CapitalG
- India’s Sequoia Capital
The services that Freshworks provide
Just to quickly recap which outlet is relevant to what:
- Freshservice: Launched in 2014, this IT service desk tool is primarily used by IT and HR teams to assist them in catering to events, managing automation, team collaboration, and having multi-channel support as a whole system. The application offers its users capabilities that make it simpler for one to interpret their data, making it ideal for multitaskers.
- Freshdesk: A ticketing program which pertains to ticket management, ticket assignment and various other aspects related to ticket purchasing. The application aims to provide its users with teams that show them how one can improvise on what they’re currently working on. These go on to help one solve issues which are difficult and require utmost attention to.
- Freshcaller: A call center solution that aims at providing a helping hand to all those small-scale businesses with features like efficient automation, voice-mails, multi-level IVR, a call center mobile application, a dashboard and even global numbers. This leads to the small-scale industry standing by a strong customer/user experience.
They were able to reach the target they had set for themselves with the launch of all these products. This demonstrated to all of their investors that they had learned from all of the setbacks and rough seas they encountered in order to advance and expand. They have the guts and confidence to take on new challenges as a result of this.
Parthiban has come to understand that Girish Mathruboootham is more than simply a friend; he also serves as his boss, mentor, and investor. Who is Parthiban? A good friend of Girish.
There were instances when Mathrubootham was a trusted confidant for Parthiban. When Parthiban wanted to take the initiative and start his own business, Mathrubootham not only encouraged him on his path but also invested in his new business. However, he decided against investing in his rising fame because doing so would only strain their connection. Despite attending the same intense brainstorming sessions, they both collaborated to produce the finished product that still stands upright today.
Freshworks Major Challenges
- 1. A disconnect between the vendor and the company: Despite their meteoric success, they had a problem in that they couldn’t seem to pinpoint the difficulties that their business might be experiencing or the standards that were anticipated of the program. When implementing any such action, a corporation must at all costs keep these requirements in mind.
- Not Being Prepared: When a business implements a certain program, it must be extremely critical and receptive to future modifications that are unavoidable. Changes in funding, training methods, and employee productivity, for example. However, FreshDesks didn’t really pay attention to this condition. They hadn’t made the effort to genuinely educate their staff members and take into account their opinions.
- Lack of Process Mapping: A detailed grasp of a company’s underlying business processes is another factor that should be considered when implementing. As a result, while keeping in mind the underlying business processes, one is ultimately guided to the automation process, which operates on SLAs and also aids in improving KPI performance. Together, these things provide you with a better understanding and jump-start your examination of the business processes involved, allowing you to eliminate any that are superfluous.
Conclusion
Despite its flaws, the business has done a fantastic job of getting where it is now, and thanks to the ongoing balancing act between positive and negative criticism, it has been able to succeed for almost ten years. The company’s major goal is to focus on what matters most to its customers, which is “the scenario at hand, rather than the hardware in place.”
What inspiration do you derive from the success journey of Freshworks?
See you at the top!
Team SO
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