How a damaged TV set and shoddy insurance service sparked a $1.5 bn startup

Girish Mathrubootham, founder of Chennai-based CRM software firm Freshworks gives global giants like Salesforce, Zendesk a run for their money

In 2009, Girish Mathrubootham, then a vice-president for product development at SaaS-based software product company Zoho Corporation, returned to India after a stint in the US. While his luggage was in transit, his television set got damaged and he did not get an insurance claim despite running from pillar to post.

Twenty-eight e-mail threads and six months later, a bitter Mathrubootham posted his experience on an online forum where expats from the US look for support while relocating to India. He got an immediate response from the logistics company and his complaint was closed within a day. This made him