{"id":10810,"date":"2020-10-06T02:33:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T02:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.matsio.com\/matsio\/saasboomi\/?post_type=podcast&p=10810"},"modified":"2023-09-19T13:45:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T13:45:25","slug":"a-masterclass-in-bootstrapping-learning-and-staying-happy-with-kumar-vembu","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/dev.matsio.com\/matsio\/saasboomi\/podcast\/a-masterclass-in-bootstrapping-learning-and-staying-happy-with-kumar-vembu\/","title":{"rendered":"A masterclass in bootstrapping, learning and staying happy with Kumar Vembu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kumar Vembu\u2019s<\/a> journey with Zoho during its early foundational years and later building his own startup, GoFrugal<\/a>, offers some deep insight into India SaaS\u2019 building blocks. Kumar\u2019s ability to spot and mentor talent such as Girish Mathrubootham, who is now the founder of Freshworks, India\u2019s most valuable SaaS company, offers lessons in grooming leaders.
In this episode of SaaSBOOMi podcast, I am thrilled to share this masterclass with Kumar in bootstrapping, spotting talent and matching them with their true purpose, and lessons from three different entrepreneurial journeys\u2013Zoho, GoFrugal and Freshworks.
\u201cI used to be a very mischievous and a happy-go-lucky kid. Whenever teachers tried to be strict with me, I became more unmanageable. But whenever a teacher trusted me, I became easy to manage,\u201d Kumar recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the early lessons for me was when you respect and trust people, you get their cooperation, much better than using brute force.\u201d
Over the years, Kumar has watched three different entrepreneurial journeys, starting with his own startup focused on the India market, Zoho before that, and Freshworks\u2019 Girish. You can also watch this video interview I had done with Kumar explaining \u201cthe Zoho way and the Freshworks way<\/a>.\u201d
So what does he think about these different models and what can we learn from each of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether to bootstrap or take funding should not be the first question. Building the product, achieving product-market fit and growing the business are more important questions at the start,\u201d he tells me in this podcast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kumar Vembu\u2019s journey with Zoho during its early foundational years and later building his own startup, GoFrugal, offers some deep insight into India SaaS\u2019 building blocks. Kumar\u2019s ability to spot and mentor talent such as Girish Mathrubootham, who is now the founder of Freshworks, India\u2019s most valuable SaaS company, offers lessons in grooming leaders.In this episode of SaaSBOOMi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11475,"template":"","tags":[],"series":[54],"series-seasons":[11],"class_list":["post-10810","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","series-scale-and-startup-stories","series-seasons-season-1"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA masterclass in bootstrapping, learning and staying happy with Kumar Vembu - BoomiAI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A masterclass in bootstrapping, learning and staying happy with Kumar Vembu - BoomiAI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kumar Vembu\u2019s journey with Zoho during its early foundational years and later building his own startup, GoFrugal, offers some deep insight into India SaaS\u2019 building blocks. 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