The stories that made Freshworks
Part one of a four part series on storytelling for SaaS startups
Freshworks is a special company. You don’t need me to tell you that. I was lucky to have started my career there, and to have worked with Girish, Shan, and the founding team. That experience shaped me, made my career. Almost everything I do in my marketing now is a direct result of stuff I learnt there.
But the single biggest thing I learnt was how Girish deployed storytelling as a weapon for Freshworks even in its earliest days. It was a masterclass I’m infinitely grateful for.
Over the years as I’ve gained experience and understood better what I was part of, I’ve sometimes been overwhelmed by the genius of it. But I’ve also been disheartened that other SaaS startups in our space aren’t using the Freshworks example to do this for themselves. The opportunity is open, and I’m not convinced that others can’t do it.
This is why I’m writing this series of essays, drawn from my experience at Freshworks, and then from my attempts to use those learnings at Wingify, and also as I do them right now at Interview Mocha. I will follow that up with a framework that startups can use to do the same for themselves.
Four essays - two examples from successful startups, one live case study as I implement my learnings, and one framework for you to use. This is the series.
This has taken some time to structure, draft, and write, and I hope it helps folks hard at work on their own startups.
There’s a reason I’ve picked the examples I have, as will become clearer when the framework is with you.
Right. Let’s get to it, then.
1. Pick a fight
This is a story that’s been told often, but I have something different to say about it, so here goes: Back in December 2011, Freshdesk got caught up in a war of words with an industry analyst who was involved with Zendesk. This led to Zendesk’s very respected CEO making an uncalled-for comment, and the issue caught fire.
Remember, none of this was initiated, or even fanned by Freshdesk.
And then Girish did this.
Freshdesk won the moral high ground, got a lot of positive coverage that it would not have been able to otherwise, and most importantly generated the awareness among the tech community that would really kickstart the company’s growth.
But the critical thing that happened here was that by picking a fight, Freshdesk positioned itself against a much bigger, much more successful company as an equal, a credible competitor.
It was this story that won us a place at the table.
2. Tell a great internal story
Sometime in 2013 or 2014, a large Freshworks gang which included Girish and me were downing post-conference beers at some hotel in Bangalore. If my memory serves me well, this was after a NASSCOM event. A good amount of chatter later, Girish said something that remained with me even after all this time.
I don’t remember the exact words, but this was the gist: Folks, we are going after the biggest software product company in the world. And if that’s the goal, we need to be become good enough to compete with them.
That’s it, that’s all he said.
Now picture the effect this has on me, a young marketer who doesn’t know much but is ambitious, wants to learn stuff, and is motivated. Imagine the stars in my eyes as I hear this declaration of intent.
This internal story remains one of Freshworks’ great strengths.
Even today, consider a young engineer walking in to work at Freshworks. That’s the story he’s told, and sees in action around him: We are going to sit in Chennai, we are going to make great products, and we are going to compete with the biggest software product company in the world.
Now envision the organisational culture that is a direct result of this story, and you’ll understand why Freshworks is so successful.
3. Stay on-brand, and find new ways to tell stories
Back to 2011 or 2012.
When we started out, the company was called Freshdesk. And Girish wanted to rename our pricing plans. I wasn’t for it, really. I remember asking him why we don’t just call them starter, medium, and so on. He said no, if our brand’s story is that we are going to be a fresher way of doing support, it’s our job to find out a way to stay on brand, even in the way we talk about our plans.
I came back to Girish with the idea that we could name our plans Sprout, Blossom, Garden, and Estate in ascending order, with Sprout being the smallest plan, Blossom being the slightly higher plan and so on. Everyone loved it. It stuck.
Now there aren’t a lot of things I can take credit for at Freshworks - I just executed a lot, and learnt even more - but this is one thing I can own, something I think of as a legacy of some sort. Even until last year as I was walking through the Sales floor in office, snatches of conversations with these words (“15 agents on Blossom, 25 on Estate”) would remind me of my contribution, however small, to a great company.
However, the reason the naming here is important is because we were keen that the brand stayed congruent with what we were telling as a larger story; every little thing mattered.
The lesson here is that it’s not enough that you tell one bigger story, you have to follow through with everything you do.
Note - Reminder that this essay is part one of a four part series. You can continue reading using the links below.
Part two: The stories that made Wingify
How India’s bootstrapped success story used storytelling, both in its origin story and in the success of its products.
Part three: The stories that will make Interview Mocha
How I’m using what I have learnt to get the marketing stories right at Interview Mocha, and a breakdown of my own process.
Part four: Follow these 5 steps to create a great startup story
A framework for founders and marketers to use as they try to do the same for themselves and for their companies.
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