Humor + Humility = Hero

As full disclosure, I do not know Girish Mathrubootham , nor his idol, Rajnikanth, in real life.

I do wish I do, though. All introductions are unashamedly welcome and gratefully accepted.

I was following the S1 filing, the IPO listing, and the absolute craze of media posts on this CEO from India who listed his company, Freshworks on the US Nasdaq a couple of weeks ago. In his filings, he had commented about how he considers Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, also known as Rajnikanth in Indian film circles, as his icon of admiration.

That got me to start digging into some of Mathrubootham and Gaekwad's (OK, Thalaivar's) available media content, and here are some strong parallels.

Humor:

Rajnikanth is renowned for his self-deprecating humor, (watch this video ) even while he reigns as the Colossus of Tamil cinema (despite being an import from Maharashtra), who is crowned the title Super Star and Thalaivar (Tamil for Leader.)

Girish Mathrubootham cuts a very humorous introduction in one of his speeches at the IIM Ahmedabad.

Humility:

Watch any of the Freshworks CEO videos or speeches, and you can see how down-to-Earth, helpful, and practical his presentations are. He accepts his mistakes, recognizes his mistakes, and makes no bones about how he makes his way forward. Rajnikanth is similarly known for his rough climb to the top, and he acknowledges his mentor (K Balachander), friends (Kamal Hassan in particular), and his re-discovery after one of his epic movies.

Mathruboothamisms:

Girish Mathrubootham sets out 3 lessons that helped him succeed (and here I draw some parallels to how Rajnikanth's life mirrors those lesson):

Ride the wave: He recognized it was easier to ride the wave than to swim against it, especially in the software space.

Rajnikanth had a similar epiphany when he realized people accepted him more as a hero than as a villain. It was the movie Bhairavi where the erstwhile villain plays the hero and rocks the ticket sales.

Play to your strengths: Girish separates skills (acquirable), knowledge (learned or experienced), and talent (naturally present) in every individual. From the start, Freshworks created a process of interviewing candidates for talent and passion, and matching them with roles within the company.

On a similar note, Rajnikanth knew he couldn't dance to save his life, nor act to character roles like his compatriot Kamal Hassan could. But Rajni has this rare talent of casually engaging dialogue delivery, mannerisms, and bravado that sets him apart. Every movie has a Rajni quote (for e.g., in Padayappa, his line is En Vazhi, thani vazhi: My path is my own)

Get invited to the party: When the leading product competitor, Zendesk, ranted against Freshworks as a rip-off on Twitter, Mathrubootham refrained from being trigger-happy. He went to launch Ripoffornot.org and took down the rants with data--creating a long tail awareness to his platform and brand. Analysts coverage, PR, events all created this immense buzz around this brand Freshworks.

After Bhairavi, a series of hero-based roles came along Rajnikanth's way. He did all of them well to his credit, but only when he began leveraging the title of Super Star did his movies turn into mega blockbusters. Again, example is Padayappa.

I would love to share your experiences with either of these two gentlemen, and showcase your lessons learnt from them.

In awe and respect

Karthik