It was a day of surreal experiences. I was on the stage celebrating Freshworks’ listing on the NASDAQ. Freshworks’ journey, which started in 2010, had culminated 11 years later by being the first Indian SaaS company to debut in the US bourses when I noticed a man standing in a corner. I had to focus to be sure I had identified him accurately.
He was a thin man with round glasses. His unassuming demeanor and reserved body language suggested a preference for observation over participation. Unlike others who were congratulating Girish Mathrubootham or networking, he simply stood there, quietly taking it all in with a smile.
I walked forward, introduced myself, and asked Lee Fixel, the founder of Addition, who earlier led one of the largest private equity businesses in the world—Tiger Global for a few years—how he was. He replied politely and asked all the right questions in return, remembering an email I had once written to him. His voice was even; soft but firm.
His humility was striking, especially considering his extraordinary achievements. It was a surreal experience to witness such a successful individual remain so understated.
Let’s be honest. If Lee wanted to grab the spotlight, he would be entitled to do it. Not just for how instrumental he has been to Freshworks and Girish Mathrabootham’s success, but his sheer portfolio of successful investments. Let’s make a quick, and in no way comprehensive, list.
- Flipkart
- Freshworks
- Dream 11
- Razorpay
- Navi Technologies
- Super Ops
- Spotify
- Stripe
- Peloton
- Coinbase
This is just a small sample of the many companies Lee has invested in. However, Flipkart and Freshworks stand out as particularly significant examples of the Indian startup dream. These companies not only scaled and gained widespread recognition but also achieved genre-defining exits.
These two companies are also indicative of how people define Lee. The story of how Tiger Global Management, then led by Lee, came about investing in Flipkart is now the stuff of urban legend. Stories say that Lee was so impressed with Flipkart that he wanted to invest in it immediately. But he had no contact with either Sachin Bansal or Binny Bansal. So, Lee did what only Lee could do. He called the boardline, calmly introduced himself, and requested a call with one of the founders. The rest, as they say, is history.
As an investor, Lee is unique. He has a bias for action. When Girish was raising a round many years ago, he had met, among other investors, Lee. I met Girish right after he met the man and the way my old friend reacted to meeting the Tiger Global top boss was revelatory.
This is how the story was told to me, and I’ll narrate it without embellishments.
Girish had been locked in talks with multiple VCs. Each VC was interested in investing in Freshworks but the terms they offered weren’t what Girish was looking for. One of the meetings he had was with Lee.
One, Lee met Girish in a hotel lobby where my entrepreneur friend had another meeting. Two, the presentation lasted 45 minutes, and it was on an iPad. There were 15 minutes of conversation and they parted ways. Three, a few hours later, Girish got a call where Lee wanted to write the cheque and get it started. There were no negotiations, no term sheets. Lee heard Girish, saw his passion, appreciated his mission statement, and found a way to make this deal happen.
Lee had such a strong belief in Girish that back in 2012, when Freshworks was still finding its feet, Tiger Global wrote a $5 million cheque without hesitation. Just for context, when Tiger exited Freshworks at the IPO (and just after), the hedge fund bagged $1 billion.
There aren’t investors like Lee in India. There are plenty who come close, but none who believe in founders and operators alike. The speed at which he moves is tremendous, his instinct unparalleled and his humility unique.
Lee the investor and Lee the person are so intrinsically connected that it is difficult to separate the two. A good few years before I met Lee at the Freshworks IPO party, Girish spoke to Fixel about contributing to SaaSBoomi.
I want to caveat this by saying that our community wasn’t as large as it is now when Girish made the first phone call back in 2018-2019. We had a handful of institutional partners and even fewer volunteers.
A little-known fact, whenever an institutional partner comes on board, they have a few transactional questions.
- What is in it for me?
- Can our leaders get prominent conversation spots?
- How big will our logo be?
The answers to these questions are more or less templated now. But when Girish spoke to Lee, Fixel asked no questions. He wrote a sizable first cheque because all he wanted was to help us grow the community.
Once we had Tiger Global Management as a partner, the others followed suit. His selfless action is the essence of the pay-it-forward mindset we champion. That one agreement helped us scale our community to a place where we can be truly ambitious.
I’ve always thought of myself as an observer. As an observer, I meet people and they talk to me about everything from sport to spirituality and from business models to love. I listen, I watch, and I learn. In one of my many meetings, I met a founder who would extol the virtues of Buddhism. I am not religious, as many people would attest to it, but as an observer, I am bound by duty to learn. One of those conversations with the founder was about humility.
“He who is humble is ever happy, he who is content is ever rich.”
Lee, as a person and investor, personifies humility and contentment.
Thank you, Lee, for being part of our tribe.
From the Author:
SaaSBoomi began in 2015 as a small gathering of ~50 founders, and today, with over 500 events across three countries and countless lives touched, we’ve only just scratched the surface.
None of this would have been possible without the unrelenting passion of our 125+ volunteers — the lifeblood of SaaSBoomi.
Their contributions go beyond effort; they’ve built a community bound by camaraderie, empathy, and a shared vision for a Product Nation.
Pay it FWD is my tribute to every pay-it-forward champion I’ve encountered on this incredible journey.
Their contributions to SaaSBoomi and the broader ecosystem have been immeasurable, yet there remains a story left to be told — one that echoes with the impact they continue to create.
