Freshworks sees exits, stock crash amid strategy shift
The SaaS company has lost several high-level executives in the months since it went public as founder Girish Mathrubootham plans a new roadmap.
Why read this story?
Editor's note: After a $1 billion initial public offering and a stellar listing in late September last year, Chennai-founded and California-headquartered software-as-a-service company Freshworks looked set. The stock as of Friday was down 64% from its listing day close and down more than 50% from its IPO price. At the same time, in the five and a half months since the IPO, the SaaS company has seen a number of senior exits. S.T.S. Prasad, executive vice president of engineering, left in October; Sidharth Malik, chief revenue officer and then chairman of Freshworks India, left in November; Sreelesh Pillai, an early employee and head of Australia operations, also left in November. Going a step or two lower, Gireesh Subramanian, a vice president of product management, left in February, while Arun Venkataswamy, a director of engineering, had quit in January. Arun Pattabhiraman, chief growth officer, has resigned in recent weeks, according to a person aware of the development, who asked not to be named. What’s happening? It is true that US tech stocks have come off their peak valuations last year and have lost …
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