It was a delight to read about the Freshworks IPO and listing on Nasdaq.
For many SaaS founders and startups this will be a shot in the arm.
Same for the India product ecosystem.
Someone has actually been there and done that now.
Incredible feat indeed by Girish Mathrubootham and team.
It is also one of the less common examples of a SaaS company targeting SMBs and then moving to bigger orgs.
The other large such success story is, off course, Salesforce.
When startups start building they operate with the assumption that they will target SMBs first and then move up to larger enterprises. This is easier said than done.
Solutions for SMBs are quite different from those for enterprises.
The differences are not just on things like security, stability, compliance and certifications, but also on actual user and business needs.
Even companies like Salesforce and Freshworks took years of successful execution before they could sell to bigger enterprises.
There are off course startups and companies that purely focus on large enterprises.
If you are just starting out or have a few customers, carefully choose your target segment.
Switching from SMB to Enterprise or vice versa may not always be as easy or even possible.
“It doesn’t matter which segment you pick as long as you follow it up with years of consistent building before you add or make a switch.”