Putting the Freshworks IPO in Context (Part 4)

Global Impact The other thing to note is the globalization of entrepreneurship aspect of the Freshworks story. Girish has proved “Made in Chennai” is possible. Unlike other Indian CEOs running SaaS companies, he never shifted the center of gravity of Freshworks away from Chennai.

Bootstrapping from Ukraine: BPMOnline CEO Katherine Kostereva (Part 7)

Katherine Kostereva: We do account-based marketing campaigns around those companies. As soon as we acquire the partner, we do onboarding processes. We invest in onboarding the partner and have them start developing the market. In some regions, we have unbelievable success. In South Africa, we have a partner who’s bringing several customers every month. Our

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Bootstrapping from Ukraine: BPMOnline CEO Katherine Kostereva (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Talk to me about organic growth versus financing. Is all the growth that you’ve achieved so far organic? Katherine Kostereva: It’s all organic. We never took loans and we never had investors. The approach is very simple. We reinvest everything we earn into our business. Nowadays, we have 700 people on board in

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Bootstrapping from Ukraine: BPMOnline CEO Katherine Kostereva (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: When it came to a head-to-head with Microsoft, how did you win? Katherine Kostereva: I win against Microsoft now in America as well. First, what is the differentiator. The differentiator of BPMOnline is that it is built on BPM platform. Even mid-size companies who value Business Process Management as the core of CRM application

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Bootstrapping from Ukraine: BPMOnline CEO Katherine Kostereva (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: We need to go from 2004 to 2015. In the context of what happened as you were growing within Europe, were you following the customer acquisition strategy using cold calling? Katherine Kostereva: Yes, for outbound marketing and inbound marketing as well. Sramana Mitra: Specifically, what marketing strategies worked for you that helped you

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Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: David Schmaier, CEO of Vlocity (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s double-click down on your industry. Help me understand the before and after. I understand you said they’re either on-premise or on the cloud, and they’re not on the cloud with industry-specific work flows. Let’s double-click down on that concept. What kinds of systems were they using? What kind of systems are you

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Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: David Schmaier, CEO of Vlocity (Part 1)

David was on the founding team of Siebel, back at the very beginning of the CRM industry. Now, with Vlocity, he is focusing on the next wave of industry-specific cloud solutions. Excellent discussion on the future of enterprise software. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with introducing our audience to the company and also to yourself. David

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How to Manage A Successful Pivot: Bullhorn CEO Art Papas (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: I get the whole vertical workflow woven into your product. Can you provide some examples of what somebody who’s buying a Salesforce.com CRM system would not be able to do versus your system? Let’s say recruitment vertical. What’s an example of workflow that’s specifically designed in your product? Art Papas: A great example

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