How India’s SaaS founders can ride ‘the monster wave’ of AI

Launched in 2015 by Freshworks CEO Girish “G” Mathrubootham and about 70 other SaaS founders in India, SaaSBoomi is a close-knit community of over 4,000 members with a strong pay-it-forward ethic.

At SaaSBoomi’s 2024 annual gathering in Chennai, G urged the 1,500-plus attendees to ride the “monster wave of AI” and take advantage of “India’s biggest opportunity.” In his presentation, G offered his insights for Indian startups leveraging AI to expand into global markets.

Here are a few highlights from his presentation:

Tech waves open new markets 

"As tech founders, we’ve seen meaningful technology waves—like social media, cloud telephony, and modern messaging—create openings for startups to address unmet needs, offer new value propositions to customers, and disrupt existing players.

"At Freshdesk, we revolutionized customer service by tapping into social media to address complaints on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Companies like Hootsuite and Sprout Social have also thrived by riding the social media wave. Cloud telephony’s rise has seen the emergence of players like Twilio, RingCentral, and Genesys, with traditional companies adopting the technology to also capitalize on the opportunity."

Disrupt and adapt

"Monster waves can wipe out entire industries but also pave the way for new winners. Consider the web browser, which revolutionized physical retail with Amazon; or Netflix,  which disrupted traditional video rental companies. Transportation saw a complete overhaul with Uber and Ola, disrupting the conventional taxi industry. Apple’s iPhone was a monster wave that destroyed industries. 

"Now, no matter where your startup operates, AI looms as a monster wave that will cause massive disruption unless founders adapt. For example, at Freshworks, we are approaching AI in terms of looking at unstructured data. We live in a world where all the software that we build assumes that humans are going to structure data and we will be doing SQL reports at the end of the quarter. A complete shift has to happen because AI can help you understand unstructured data.

"Nobody has all the answers because things are moving very fast, but founders must be ready for a mindset shift to stay on the positive side of innovation. Customers will not tell us today what they want tomorrow. It’s our job to understand what’s possible with AI and then reimagine how we can deliver value to our customers."

A call to all Indi-AI-an startups

"We started SaaSBoomi with the dream of making India a product nation. If we can learn how to ride the monster wave of AI, it can become an accelerator for us to achieve this dream.

"In 2011, when I was trying to raise funds for Freshworks, investors were reluctant to travel all the way to Chennai to meet one startup. And now look at Chennai today. Every investor in India, from seed to growth stage, is here looking to find and fund the best SaaS startup! With India’s young talent and universities offering AI programs, I can imagine a future where global investors flock to SaaSBoomi to back the next Indian startup with AI in every venture.

"Imagine SaaSBoomi in 2027, with investors worldwide eager to invest billions in our AI-driven startups. When that day comes, we’ll proudly say, 'Bharat mata ki jai! (Victory to Mother India!)'"