Podcasts about freshworks

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #282, we welcomed Bryan McAnulty Founder of Heights Platform and LatchLoop based in Austin, TX.Bryan has helped thousands of creators across 100+ countries transform their knowledge into thriving businesses. As a creator himself, he has been committed to empowering those with a passion for creation to learn and grow online.In this episode, Bryan and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #282 Highlight Reel:**1.  Focusing on being proactive with all of your customers, regardless of LTV2. Pro's & Con's of AI-driven customer support3. Why customers value speed to solution more than anything Click here to learn more about Bryan McAnultyClick here to learn more about Heights PlatformClick here to learn more about LatchLoopHuge thanks to Bryan for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles TodayTweet us @cxchroniclesCheck out our Instagram @cxchroniclesClick here to checkout the CXC websiteEmail us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of the B2B Go-To-Market Leaders Podcast, Vijay Damojipurapu sits down with Kady Srinivasan, Chief Marketing Officer at Freshworks, to explore what it really takes to build market share in SaaS, and why finding the right ICP is often the difference between accelerated growth and stalled momentum.Drawing from leadership roles across Dropbox, Klaviyo, Lightspeed, and Freshworks, Kady shares lessons from scaling PLG, inbound, outbound, and hybrid go-to-market motions, while navigating the realities of product-market fit, category expansion, and AI-driven disruption.The conversation dives into the evolution of modern GTM, from defining your initial ICP to expanding into adjacent markets without losing your positioning, and why many companies drift away from the messaging and audience that made them successful in the first place.They dive into:Why GTM is ultimately about building market share through coordinated actions across product, marketing, sales, and customer success.How great products still fail when they're sold to the wrong audience or positioned with the wrong messaging.The concept of ICP+ and how successful companies expand beyond their initial customer base without losing focus.Why many SaaS companies unintentionally drift away from their original positioning as they add products and features.The differences between PLG, inbound, outbound, and enterprise sales motions—and when each makes sense.How pricing, packaging, and expansion strategy influence long-term customer value.Kady's ABCD Framework for positioning: Audience, Benefits, Compelling Reasons to Believe, and Differentiation.Why storytelling frameworks like the Hero's Journey remain powerful tools for modern marketers.How AI is creating a new generation of multi-threaded marketers who can operate across traditional marketing silos.A creative CEO influence strategy that transformed LinkedIn engagement into pipeline and qualified opportunities.Lessons from a major ICP pivot at Lightspeed that helped drive significant market share gains in targeted geographies.Why defining and defending your ICP is one of the most important leadership decisions a company can make.Kady's core message is simple:The companies that win aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest products, they're the ones with the clearest understanding of who they're serving and why.This episode is a practical masterclass on ICP definition, positioning, GTM motion design, and the future of marketing in an AI-powered world.

The episode identifies a growing governance gap as a central structural issue for MSPs and IT service providers, driven by rapid AI adoption through subscription-based tools and platforms. Rather than being introduced as controlled, IT-led initiatives, AI services are entering organizations piecemeal—often through end users and business units—undermining established accountability and management practices. This dynamic is exemplified by ConnectWise's dismantling of its ASIO platform in favor of a new AI-native operating layer designed to unify PSA, RMM, security, and automation functions, and by clients independently layering on AI-powered tools without centralized oversight or cost control. A primary example of ungoverned risk involves unsustainable AI cost exposure. According to Axios and TechCrunch, an enterprise amassed around $500 million in a single month on Anthropic's Claude due to unlimited, unmonitored usage. Freshworks' survey of over 12,000 IT professionals quantifies the industry's operational friction, finding mid-market companies waste about 25% of AI budgets on complexity, for a total of $16 billion in annual waste. Despite 89% of respondents planning to increase AI spend, only 15% have actively integrated these tools into daily workflows—revealing widespread governance lag behind adoption. Supporting developments highlight the breadth and persistence of this governance deficit. Organizations such as the Linux Foundation have responded by forming the Tokenomics Foundation to standardize AI cost tracking. Meanwhile, AI tool adoption is occurring outside IT, leading to agent sprawl, unclear permissions, and cost scaling linked to agent behavior rather than headcount. Roll-up strategies in adjacent sectors—such as Thrive Holdings' $1 billion commitment to consolidate accounting firms under an AI operational platform—demonstrate capital's move toward operationally governed, AI-enabled service models, suggesting a parallel risk for IT providers. For MSPs and IT leaders, these trends underscore the urgency of operationalizing AI governance as a billable, contractual service rather than an informal or embedded support task. Risks include absorbing liability for unmanaged AI usage, exacerbated operational complexity, and relinquishing margin to platform or capital entrants. Practical steps involve conducting AI tool audits, inventorying agent access and spend, instituting usage controls, and reframing account segmentation around governance and liability exposure. MSPs who define, price, and contract for governance can mitigate inherited risk and avoid being displaced by vendors or capital-backed consolidators. 00:00 ConnectWise Rebuilds  03:59 Ungoverned Agents 06:06 Roll-Up Warning 09:38 Why Do We Care?    Supported by:  Moovila  ScalePad 

Is your organization losing 7% of its annual revenue to complexity? In this podcast hosted by Boston New Technology CPO Shweta Agrawal, Freshworks Chief Product Officer Srini Raghavan will be speaking on how AI-native tools are transforming IT and customer service operations, and what it really takes to scale AI responsibly in the enterprise. Drawing on his experience leading product at Freshworks, RingCentral, and Five9, Srini shares the frameworks, real customer stories, and mindset shifts that separate product leaders who scale from those who stall.

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #281, we welcomed Carl Lenocker, Senior Customer Success Executive at Splunk, based in San Francisco, CA. He is also the Chief Unicorn at Rockstar Unicorn Consulting. Carl has an interesting story as he's a a top-1% Customer Success Executive ($50M ARR) who built a career by owning relationships, telling the truth early, and tying outcomes to dollars—not dashboards.He's also the author of Success Plan for Life, where he breaks down how the same principles used to protect multi-million-dollar enterprise accounts can be applied to career, wealth, love and long-term leverage.In this episode, Carl and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #281 Highlight Reel:**1. What it takes to be a top 1& CSM 2. Bringing CX & customer success into your future investments3. Where are things headed for CS in the next 1,000 days?Click here to learn more about Carl LenockerClick here to learn more about SplunkHuge thanks to Carl for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles TodayTweet us @cxchroniclesCheck out our Instagram @cxchroniclesClick here to checkout the CXC websiteEmail us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

A program manager told Sriram Iyer it would take 6 to 9 months to ship the first slice of their new product. Sriram challenged the team to do it in just five days. At first, they laughed. Then he rolled his sleeves up, dug in with the team, and they did it. 5 days, from Monday to Friday. Sriram has spent his career walking into companies like Salesforce, Adobe, and Freshworks, and pulling timelines apart. He calls himself the simplifier in chief, and the secret isn't the AI tooling. It's everything underneath the AI tooling that most leaders won't actually do. That's what make teams trust, and follow, him. In this episode, Sriram breaks down exactly how that five-day sprint worked, including: The "thinnest slice of pizza" principle that kills scope creep before it starts Why AI made it possible — but isn't really the point How to find the team members in any org who are actually ready to just make stuff happen — and why mindset matters more than tooling And why none of this works without trust, prioritization, taste, and an executive willing to get in the weeds and take personal responsibility for the outcome Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriramviyer/ Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Sriram Iyer.

In this episode of the CPQ Podcast, host Frank Sohn sits down with Siva Rajamani, the Co-Founder and CEO of Everstage, to discuss the evolving landscape of Revenue Operations and the critical role of Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) software in modern business. Siva shares his journey from managing Revenue Operations at Freshworks—where he witnessed the company scale from $10M to $100M ARR—to founding Everstage in 2020. Having seen firsthand how pricing changes can disrupt downstream operations, Siva built Everstage to empower RevOps and Finance teams with a strategic, no-code platform. What You'll Learn in This Episode: The Evolution of Everstage: How a platform with 300+ enterprise customers for incentive compensation expanded into a cutting-edge CPQ solution in October 2024. AI & Agent-Led Innovation: How Everstage is leveraging AI and intelligent agents to automate code creation and simplify the user experience for sales reps. Market Focus & Growth: Why Everstage is prioritizing the tech industry for its CPQ rollout and its ambitious goal to add 150 new CPQ customers this year. Complex Pricing & Integrations: A deep dive into the platform's ability to handle subscription pricing, ramp deals, usage-based models, and 100+ out-of-the-box integrations including Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, and Stripe. The Human Side of Tech: Siva talks about his life as a "Girl Dad" and the importance of staying grounded while scaling a global startup. Whether you are a RevOps professional, a finance leader, or a CPQ enthusiast, this conversation offers a masterclass in building scalable systems that drive revenue growth.

Fault lines within the Tata Trusts are widening as Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh exit the Tata Education and Development Trust ahead of a crucial board review at Tata Sons. Meanwhile, AI-driven optimism is powering a surge in Asian tech stocks, bringing markets like Taiwan and South Korea closer to India's valuation. In the tech sector, Freshworks plans to cut 11% of its workforce amid mounting pressure on global SaaS firms. India is also stepping up its regulatory response, preparing a financial sector cybersecurity framework to counter AI-led threats. On the manufacturing front, China's Midea Group is moving ahead with an India joint venture after eased FDI norms. As summer travel demand rises, more passengers are opting for buses over flights on shorter routes due to rising airfares. Tune in for all this and more in the day's edition of Moneycontrol Editor's Picks.

Enabling mid-market businesses to ramp up customer support and employee experience is Freshworks' primary focus. The company is expanding its AI suite — AI Agents, AI Copilot and AI Insights — to handle a range of business tasks, from password resets to product returns, for its 75,000 customers. In this Tech Disruptors podcast episode, Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside speaks with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Niraj Patel about the company's evolution from a small-business software provider to serving mid-market (500-5,000 employees) and enterprise clients. Tune in as Woodside discusses the SaaSpocalypse, opportunities beyond the IT service desk such as asset and operations management, evolving buyer behavior with AI tools, AI pricing and more.

In today's Tech3 from Moneycontrol, Infosys leans into AI as a growth driver while tightening deal discipline. Dreamteam, founded by former Freshworks executives, lines up a $40 million round. Big Tech players like Meta and Alphabet reshape operations around AI, and Cars24 sees back-to-back founder exits ahead of its planned IPO.

In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I welcome back Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks, to unpack the growing conversation around the so-called SaaS-pocalypse and what it really means for the future of software businesses. There is no shortage of dramatic headlines suggesting SaaS is under threat, but Dennis offers a far more practical perspective. He explains that this is less about the collapse of software and more about a major reset in how software is judged, bought, and valued. As AI changes customer expectations, businesses are no longer willing to pay for incremental features or vague AI claims. They want clear outcomes, measurable ROI, and platforms that can prove they belong inside an AI-augmented tech stack. We discuss how the traditional seat-based pricing model is shifting toward consumption, outcomes, and usage-based models. Dennis shares why software companies without a strong AI strategy risk being squeezed out. At the same time, those with mission-critical systems of record and deep workflow intelligence are better positioned to thrive. He explains why deterministic software still matters in a world obsessed with generative AI and why the future belongs to platforms that combine trusted operational data with secure, embedded AI experiences. Dennis also shares how customers are changing the way they evaluate software, with many now using tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to compare vendors, analyze RFPs, and arrive at buying decisions far earlier in the sales process. This shift is forcing software vendors to rethink marketing, product design, and customer engagement from the ground up. We also explore the balance between governance and experimentation, why AI adoption must happen from both the top down and bottom up, and why speed, not just cost reduction, is becoming the real business driver. Dennis shares examples of how organizations are redesigning workflows, accelerating engineering output, and freeing up high-value talent from repetitive work. As he puts it, most companies are no longer asking if they need AI; they are asking how fast they can make it part of everything they do. If you have been wondering whether the SaaS model is broken or simply evolving into something smarter, this conversation offers a sharp and realistic look at what comes next. How is your business thinking about durability in an AI-first world, and are you building to last or simply building to grow? Useful Links Connect with Dennis Woodside on LinkedIn Learn more about  Freshworks  Refresh 2026 Event Follow on LinkedIn Visit the Sponsors of Tech Talks Network and learn more about the NordLayer Browser.  

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #280, we welcomed Josh Schachter, SVP @ Gainsight, Creator of [Un] Churned Podcast & Writing Book on how the world's most exceptional founders build businesses centered around human relationships. On July 21st, 2025 Gainsight announced it acquired Update.ai: Accelerating the Age of Atlas Agents. This also brought forward Josh Schachter, founder of UpdateAI and one of the first to build in post-sales AI, stepping in as SVP & GM of Atlas. Josh is a product thinker through and through – someone who's lived the day-to-day pain of customer teams and built UpdateAI from that front-line perspective. In this episode, Josh and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #280 Highlight Reel:**1. AI is here to amplify human effort, not replace it entirely2. Defining & living your core business values3. Learning from podcast interviews & conversations 4. Building a business into an acquisition target for larger companies5. Learning from public companies & their NPS performanceClick here to learn more about Josh SchachterClick here to learn more about GainsightClick here to learn more about UpdateAIClick here to learn more about [UN] Churned PodcastHuge thanks to Josh for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles TodayTweet us @cxchroniclesCheck out our Instagram @cxchroniclesClick here to checkout the CXC websiteEmail us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Enterprise customers demand 99.9% availability, regardless of how the underlying software is built. In this episode, Murali Swaminathan (CTO @ Freshworks) discusses how enterprises actually win with AI! We explore the “Architecture of Predictability” – proactive architectural safeguards to scale “responsible AI by design” across a global organization serving 75,000 customers. Murali shares his leadership playbook for implementing the technical safeguards and product trust controls that empower hundreds of engineers to build safely. We also dive into the shift from deterministic flowcharts to “workflows with a brain” and why backend systems engineers are the secret bedrock of agentic products. Plus, Murali deconstructs the dual evolution required of modern leaders: mastering strategic thinking at the business level while cultivating systems thinking at the engineering level.   ABOUT MURALI SWAMINATHAN Murali Swaminathan joined Freshworks as Chief Technology Officer in September 2024. Murali is responsible for Freshworks' technology roadmap and strategy, leading the company's global engineering and architecture teams. With over 30 years of experience in software engineering, he has held leadership roles at ServiceNow, Recommind (now OpenText), and CA Technologies (now Broadcom), where he delivered scalable, secure solutions that enabled digital transformation and business agility. Murali holds a master's degree in Software Engineering Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor's degree in electronics and instrumentation from Annamalai University in India.   SHOW NOTES: Freshworks' operating context: Engineering for 75,000 global customers (2:09) Navigating the tension between rapid AI adoption and enterprise-grade reliability (4:58) Breaking the "Positive Scenario" Trap: Using AI to automate negative test cases and corner-case detection (6:40) Why Responsible AI is a competitive advantage: Building "kill switches" and trust gates (8:31) Responsible AI by Design: Moving from reactive compliance to proactive architectural safeguards (10:48) Technical safeguards: Leveraging hyperscaler frameworks for model compliance and data anonymization (13:39) Product Trust Controls: Demonstrating reliability through role-based access and thresholds (16:25) Why engineering leaders should experiment in small teams before global rollout (20:35) Simulating Chaos: Using Business Continuity Planning (BCP) to test AI system resilience (22:13) Workflows with a brain: Transitioning from deterministic flows to agentic runtime decisions (24:16) The AI Team Profile: Why backend system engineers, not just data scientists, are the bedrock of agentic products (29:25) Cultivating a mindset shift toward agentic system orchestration (32:10) The shift to systems thinking: How engineering roles evolve from "building pieces" to managing end-to-end system flows (33:38) How to approach strategic business thinking as an engineering leader (36:43) Rapid Fire Questions: Guy Kawasaki's "Think Remarkable" and the best way to predict the future (38:23)   LINKS AND RESOURCES Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference - Tech titan and creator of the Remarkable People podcast Guy Kawasaki delivers a practical, tactical, and sometimes radical discussion of how to make a difference in the world and live a fulfilling life.   This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team: Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host Jerry Li - Co-Host Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/ Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/ Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #279, we welcomed Jack Siney, Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer at FrontRace. FrontRace brings together your team's real activity data and connects it across systems, and apply powerful AI to reveal what's working, what's not, and what to do next.This is the future of AI transformation: grounded in truth, built on your data, and tailored to how your company actually works.In this episode, Jack and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #279 Highlight Reel:**1. Leveraging & configuring your data to drive growth 2. Connecting your customer data across the whole journey 3. Understanding which metrics matter most 4. Ensuring your team understands what drives the business 5. Always be learning & course correcting Click here to learn more about Jack SineyClick here to learn more about FrontRaceHuge thanks to Jack for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & data configuration space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles TodayTweet us @cxchroniclesCheck out our Instagram @cxchroniclesClick here to checkout the CXC websiteEmail us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Diretor e Gestor Comercial, o crescimento da sua equipe não pode esperar enquanto você tenta decifrar dezenas de relatórios. O mercado está mudando rápido, e a sua agilidade de decisão é o que garante a vantagem competitiva. Por isso, no formato "5 em 5", condensamos as cinco notícias mais quentes da semana sobre vendas e liderança em apenas cinco minutos de pura inteligência estratégica. É o resumo rápido e direto feito exatamente para a sua rotina.Neste episódio, decodificamos a verdade por trás da alta confiança do mercado: por que o otimismo dos CEOs disparou, mas as contratações congelaram? Revelamos como o boom da IA está gerando o "crescimento sem empregos" e por que fazer sua equipe produzir mais com menos se tornou uma questão de sobrevivência. Além disso, analisamos a jogada da Freshworks, que acaba de quebrar silos corporativos unificando Vendas, Sucesso do Cliente e CX sob um único executivo para maximizar a retenção e a receita.Dissecamos também duas movimentações cirúrgicas de contratação. Entenda a estratégia da Salomon ao buscar na Vans a sua nova líder comercial, misturando a agressividade da performance com a conexão do lifestyle, e descubra como a Nextdoor trouxe um peso-pesado da T-Mobile para pro!ssionalizar seu time e transformar a confiança de uma audiência local em receita publicitária direta.Por fim, mergulhamos no impacto inegável da diversidade na alta performance corporativa. Discutimos a poderosa parceria entre a Clari + Salesloft e a Women in Revenue, provando que a mentoria de talentos não é apenas uma questão ética ou de RH, mas o motor oculto para formar a próxima geração de líderes de receita.Deixe de lado as táticas que funcionavam ontem. Aperte o play agora, descubra como essas grandes marcas estão moldando o futuro comercial e aplique esses insights imediatamente na sua gestão.

Send a textThis wave of enterprise software announcements underscores how AI agents, ecosystem alliances, and data infrastructure are becoming foundational to modern enterprise architecture. Vendors such as Pipefy and Aquant are expanding libraries of pre-built AI agents, while Salesforce continues to scale its Agentforce ecosystem through industry-specific releases, AWS integrations, and its acquisition of Informatica to strengthen data governance and orchestration. At the same time, platform vendors like IFS and Freshworks are enhancing their core cloud offerings to embed automation and intelligence deeper into operational workflows. Strategic collaborations—including Zendesk's agreement with AWS and Iterable's release of a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server—highlight the growing importance of standardized orchestration layers that allow AI agents to operate securely across distributed systems. Meanwhile, initiatives such as Sage's AI Trust Label reflect increasing focus on governance, transparency, and responsible AI adoption as autonomous capabilities become embedded into mission-critical enterprise processes.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry analysts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to analyze current enterprise software stories. We covered many grounds, including the direction and roadmaps of each enterprise software vendor. Finally, we analyzed future trends and how they might shape the enterprise software industry.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyTFFz7aXVAQuestions for Panelists?

Workforce reimagination is here. In 2026, the office of the CFO is moving from AI as a tool to a coworker. Recorded in Davos, this episode digs into the human side of transformation. We sit down with global leaders to unpack why the human in the loop is being rewritten and why change management has become a core executive capability. Mandi McReynolds talks with Costi Perricos, Global GenAI Business Leader at Deloitte, Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks, and Dr. Márcia Balisciano, Board Member Foundation for the UN Global Compact and CSO of RELX, about what they're seeing on the ground as roles evolve from task execution to AI orchestration. In this episode: 04:00 Costi Pericos on agentic collaboration and why HR and AI are converging 13:10 Dennis Woodside on the execution gap and changing daily work habits 15:30 Marcia Balisciano on CFO leadership and becoming "chief environmental champions" 19:00 Conclusion: Why CFOs must architect the agentic future "I often say you'll learn without AI first so that one day you can be the human in the loop, coordinating and governing AI." — Costi Pericos, Deloitte Enjoy this episode? Find more at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read  

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #278, we welcomed Ryan Wang, Co-Founder & CEO of Assembled based in San Francisco, CA.Industry leaders like Etsy, Robinhood, and Stripe trust Assembled to provide customer-facing AI agents and workforce planning at scale. Assembled automatically resolves millions of interactions through chat, email, and phone while optimizing staffing for hundreds of thousands of support professionals. Their mission is to elevate customer support through AI-powered software that makes life easier for customers and employees.In this episode, Ryan and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #278 Highlight Reel:**1. Building a high-performing team in the AI age 2. Shift towards AI-driven skill sets in the workforce 3. Creating a culture of continuous learning  4. Focusing on customer feedback early & often 5. Keeping your team lean & flexible as you scale Click here to learn more about Ryan WangClick here to learn more about AssembledHuge thanks to Ryan for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this CXWeekly Update episode #277 we walk through ideas, goals & CTAs the team at CXC has been focused on, not only internally but from the learnings we're being exposed to from clients & strategic partners on a regular basis. In this episode we walk through a few emerging trends around how AI is impacting the future of Sales, CX, Customer Success & Support + the future of work. Thanks to our friends at GoTo, Intercom & TriNet for supplying some amazing market reports that fuel this week's episodes. They collectively went out & interviewed & surveyed thousands of business leaders from across the world to see where they are in their AI foundation building efforts. Click here for GoTo Pulse of Work Report 2025Click here for Intercom Customer Service Transformation Report 2026Click here for Tri-Net State of Workplace Report 2025Don't worry we have a ton of amazing brand new guest interviews & episodes coming down the pipeline.We're also working on new forms & mediums of customer focused business content -- including my 2nd book "Make Happiness A Habit" that we are launching in the New Year. We've also been building a few new podcasts behind the scenes to take all that we've learned with CXCP & start finding other podcast areas ripe for more content. A big part of CXC's mission is to continue creating valuable customer & employee focused business leader content, including CXWeekly updates like this that are digestible, actionable & most importantly entertaining. The CXChronicles Podcast is approaching a huge milestone in the upcoming months that most podcasts will never achieve. We closing in on 300+ episodes of customer focused business content from incredible Founders & Executives from all over the world. CXC is partnered with several leading software & technology providers including Hubspot, Intercom, Freshworks, & several others who might be the difference in your CX/EX performance moving forward. We provide our clients with audits, assessments & scorecards and we provide custom CTAs centered around your content engine to drive CX/EX health, utilization & health performance for our partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, Freshworks), & on-demand managed services (partner led implementation, utilization performance & training for several of our partner solutions).If you enjoy The CXChronicles Podcast, stop by your favorite podcast player and leave us a review today.You know what would be even better?Go tell one of your friends or teammates about CXC's content, CX/CS/RevOps services, our customer & employee focused community & invite them to join the CX Nation!For you non-readers, go check out the CXChronicles Youtube channel to see our customer & employee focused video content & short-reel CTAs to improve your CX/CS/RevOps performance today (politely go smash that subscribe button).Contact us anytime to learn more about CXC at INFO@cxchronicles.com and ask us about how we can help your business & team make customer happiness a habit now!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #276, we welcomed Todd Breton from Hippo Insurance & Eileen Potter from Smart Communications to talk through CX's role in the insurance industry. Smart Communications is the trusted choice for regulated enterprises looking to modernize complex processes and connect with customers in the moments that matter most. More than 650 enterprises worldwide—including Zurich Insurance, Priority Health, The Pacific Financial Group, and The Bancorp—rely on Smart Communications to reduce compliance risk, boost operational efficiency, lower costs, and fast-track digital transformation that fuels business growth and elevates the customer experience.500,000+ homeowners are insured today by Hippo with 70+ insurance carrier partners to boot. In this episode, Todd, Eileen and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that their teams think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #276 Highlight Reel:**1. Technology's role in the insurance industry2. How AI is changing the insurance space 3. Why most insurance companies are doubling down on CX4. Relationships still matter for most insurance customers5. The future of insuranceClick here to learn more about Todd BretonClick here to learn more about Eileen PotterClick here to learn more about Smart CommunicationsClick here to learn more about Hippo InsuranceHuge thanks to Todd & Eileen for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring their work and efforts in pushing the way that customer experience fits inside of the insurance industry in the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #275, we welcomed Sagi Reuven, Chief Revenue Officer at Deepdub based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Deepdub is the enterprise voice infrastructure powering AI in production. Deepdub built their credibility in the most demanding voice environments in the world: Hollywood studios, global broadcasters, and premium content pipelines where voice quality, emotional accuracy, and reliability are non-negotiable.Deepdub enables zero-shot voice cloning, voice-to-voice, ADR, accent control, and ultra-low latency delivery designed for systems that operate live, at scale, and in front of real customers.Get started here> https://deepdub.ai/ FYI even better if you let them know that CXC sent you their way!In this episode, Sagi and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #275 Highlight Reel:**1. Personalize for problems, not people.2. Keeping top talent by building smarter teams3. AI's impact on leadership & strategy4. The Partnership Economy is here5. Changes to prepare for in the work placeClick here to learn more about Sagi ReuvenClick here to learn more about DeepdubHuge thanks to Sagi for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Check out the CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

The SaaS Revolution Show with Alex Theuma and Kady Srinivasan, CMO at Freshworks and former CMO at You.com. Kady shares how she rebuilt the You.com GTM strategy from the ground up after multiple pivots. Rather than trying to fix broken SaaS playbooks, she replaced them with a multithreaded marketing model that 10x'd MQLs and grew ACV by 86% in just two quarters. Alex and Kady discuss: - Why traditional GTM playbooks break down in the AI era - What multithreaded marketing actually looks like in practice - How to structure marketing teams for ownership and speed - The role of prompt marketers and AI-native workflows - Using AI as an execution accelerator, not a strategy shortcut - The differences between selling to AI natives and AI laggards - The reality of operating with a complex, multi-tool GTM stack       Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

Artificial intelligence adoption is accelerating without formal ownership as employees, customers, and patients integrate AI tools into daily decisions. Surveys from Gallup show 45% of U.S. employees use AI at work at least occasionally, while research cited by OpenAI indicates roughly 60% of American adults recently used AI for health-related questions. Zoho and Arion Research report that 41% of organizations have strengthened privacy measures after adopting AI, reflecting growing concern about data exposure and accountability. For MSPs, the shift places liability closer to the systems being used rather than the vendors supplying them.Trust in digital media is also eroding as AI-generated content becomes harder to distinguish from authentic material. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri states that assuming photos or videos reflect real events is no longer reliable and suggests verification at the point of capture rather than labeling generated content. This approach reframes trust as a technical system rather than a social assumption. For IT providers, the issue extends beyond social platforms to security footage, compliance evidence, training data, and any asset where authenticity must be demonstrated.At the same time, automation and AI training are converging on the same constraint: expert judgment. HireArt's 2025 AI Trainer Compensation Report shows subject-matter experts earning $60 to more than $180 per hour, compared with under $20 for generalist data labelers, reflecting the cost of errors in regulated or technical fields. Kaseya's 2025 EMEA MSP Benchmark Report finds that while nearly 75% of MSPs expect revenue growth, 45% face staffing and skills shortages, increasing reliance on automation built on accurate data and curated exceptions.Major vendors are embedding judgment directly into platforms. ServiceNow's planned $7.75 billion acquisition of Armis expands asset classification and risk scoring within workflows. Freshworks' acquisition of FireHydrant integrates AI-driven incident management into ITSM. Google Cloud's revamped Partner Network shifts incentives toward outcome-based tiers beginning in 2026. For MSPs and IT service leaders, these moves concentrate responsibility around interpretation, governance, and accountability, even as tools increasingly define risk and success.Four things to know today00:00 Surveys Show AI Adoption Is Happening Without Ownership as Employees, Customers, and Patients Lead Usage04:50 Instagram's CEO Says Trust Is No Longer Assumed as AI Forces Proof-of-Reality Models07:22 AI and MSP Automation Are Converging on the Same Bottleneck: Expert Judgment09:52 Vendors Shift From Tools to Judgement as ServiceNow, Freshworks, and Google Cloud Embed Risk, Incidents, and Outcomes This is the Business of Tech.    Supported by:  https://scalepad.com/dave/

Everyone's been telling me "you gotta talk to Kevin!" Kevin Lau is VP Global Customer Marketing at Freshworks. Freshworks provides AI-assisted IT and customer service software to 75k+ companies. 9,500+ employees, IPO'd back in 2021.Here's what we cover:01:58 Why Customer Relationships are so important especially going into next year05:40 The Customer Marketing Team at Freshworks09:02 Redefining Customer Marketing at Freshworks (more than just advocacy)12:56 Collaboration Between Customer and Product Marketing16:48 Voice of Customer and ongoing Feedback Mechanisms27:58 The Importance of Customer Marketing & why companies that focus on Net New are already behind31:10 Most Creative Customer Marketing Plays37:24 Building Customer Engagement Programs from scratch39:42 Measuring the Impact of Customer Marketing43:08 Using AI in Customer Marketing50:46 Hopes, fears, future outlook on AI and Customer Marketing (it's not all bad)Kevin on LinkedIn: ⁠www.linkedin.com/in/kevinkennethlauFreshworks: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.freshworks.comSubscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, message me what you're listening to, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.Music by my talented daughter.Anna on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠furmanovmarketing.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠One Insight

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #274, we welcomed Dave Rennyson, President & CEO at SuccessKPI based in the Washington, DC area. SuccessKPI is an on-demand insight and action platform that removes the obstacles that agents, managers, and executives encounter in delivering exceptional customer service.SuccessKPI is trusted by some of the world's largest government, BPO, financial, healthcare, and technology contact centers in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.In this episode, Dave and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #274 Highlight Reel:**1. Why the best organizations & teams invest in constant training efforts 2. How music and business are wildly similar 3. Leveraging & investing in AI over the next 1,000 days 4. Understanding the power of your data architecture  5. Tomorrow's leading tech-companies will bring solutions, not headaches Click here to learn more about Dave RennysonClick here to learn more about SuccessKPIHuge thanks to Dave for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Check out the CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #273, we welcomed Varun Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO of Enterpret based in New York, NY. Enterpret provides custom AI to transform how you understand customers – from feedback chaos into clear, confident action. Harness superintelligence that feels like intuition, so your product and CX leaders never miss a signal.The Enterpret platform supercharges teams via advanced LLMs to help brands like Notion, The Farmer's Dog, and Perplexity build better products and experiences.In this episode, Varun and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #273 Highlight Reel:**1. On a mission to connect product leaders with their customers2. Pioneering customer intelligence with AI 3. Understand your customers wants & needs 4. Creating actionable reporting to lift your CX & EX 5. VOC support to help grow your business Click here to learn more about Varun SharmaClick here to learn more about EnterpretHuge thanks to Varun for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Check out the CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #272, we welcomed Matt Rubright, Chief Customer Officer at Jam.dev based in Seattle, WA. Jam powers the complete software development lifecycle, with AI that eliminates 84% of bug reproduction tasks, so your engineers can ship clean code faster.Jam AI adds the relevant logs and steps to make every bug report actionable. With integrations with best-in-class issue trackers & other product management tools, Jam fits right into EPD workflows.In this episode, Matt and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #272 Highlight Reel:**1. Salesforce utilization management in today's world 2. Why you might be over-building your CRM3. Implementing tech changes within an organization 4. Building playbooks to guide your team & create consistency 5. Leveraging 360 feedback to build high-performing teamsClick here to learn more about Matt RubrightClick here to learn more about Jam.devHuge thanks to Matt for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Check out the CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this week's CXWeekly Update episode I walk through some ideas, goals & CTAs that me & the team at CXC have been focused on.Full candor, we're in a full blown sales sprint to the end of the year to close 2025 with a bang & tee up the best year yet in 2026.We're also working on a ton of new customer focused business content -- including my 2nd book "Make Happiness A Habit" that we are launching in the New Year. Don't worry we have a ton of amazing guest interviews coming down the pipeline over the next couple of weeks.Part of our goal at CXC is to create some of the best customer focused business leader content, including short episodes like these CXWeekly updates that are digestible, actionable & most importantly entertaining for all of you.Huge thanks for all of you who helped to celebrate our 5 year anniversary of building CXChronicles, it's been a hell of a journey. Approaching 300+ episodes of customer focused business contentWorked with 150+ companies across the world helping make customer & employee happiness a habitPartnered with biggest players in software & technology including Salesforce, Hubspot, Intercom, Zendesk, & Freshworks.Launched CXC Healthzone Intelligence Platform, go see how your company's CX stacks up the rest. If you enjoy The CXChronicles Podcast, stop by your favorite podcast player and leave us a review today.You know what would be even better?Go tell one of your friends or teammates about CXC's content, CX/CS/RevOps services, our customer & employee focused community & invite them to join the CX Nation!For you non-readers, go check out the CXChronicles Youtube channel to see our customer & employee focused video content & short-reel CTAs to improve your CX/CS/RevOps performance today (politely go smash that subscribe button).Contact us anytime to learn more about CXC at INFO@cxchronicles.com and ask us about how we can help your business & team make customer happiness a habit now!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #271, we welcomed Marcus Smith, CEO at Cloud Trailz based in Atlanta, GA. Cloud Trailz offers their customers Saleforce help without all of the hassle by providing professional, expert users that come with the playbooks required to achieve utilization & success with the world's largest CRM. In this episode, Marcus and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #271 Highlight Reel:**1. Salesforce utilization management in today's world  2. Why you might be over-building your CRM 3. Implementing tech changes within an organization  4. Building playbooks to guide your team & create consistency  5. Leveraging 360 feedback to build high-performing teams Click here to learn more about Marcus Smith Click here to learn more about Cloud TrailzHuge thanks to Marcus for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Check out the CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

In today's Tech3 from Moneycontrol, Groww's IPO sees strong retail frenzy while PhysicsWallah sets its price band ahead of its Rs 3,480-crore issue. We decode how two 23-year-olds from Bengaluru built a voice AI model that outperformed Google's. Plus, Freshworks' Q3 revenue rises 15 percent, Ola Electric narrows losses but sees weaker sales, and CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti weighs in on Lenskart's IPO valuation. Also, Shiv Nadar tops the 2025 EdelGive–Hurun Philanthropy List.

How do top product leaders navigate the complex journey from startup to IPO? In this podcast hosted by EY Platform Operations Lead Justin Leibow, Amazon Senior Technical Product Lead Suvarsha Rai will be speaking on scaling SaaS products and driving innovation in enterprise technology. Drawing from her extensive experience across Oracle, Freshworks, and Amazon, Suvarsha shares critical insights into product management strategies, AI integration, and the evolving landscape of technology leadership.

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #269, we welcomed Valerie Li,  Co-Founder & CEO of Duckie.ai based in San Francisco, CA.Duckie. ai is a no-code platform for customer support teams to build their own AI agents to deflect tickets and automate repetitive processes.In this episode, Valerie and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that Michele & her team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #269 Highlight Reel:**1. AI-Driven Support Is The Future 2. Enhancing CX and EX Through AI 3. Building Customizable AI Support Bots4. Leveraging Engineering For Strategic Growth 5. AI-Powered Customer Feedback Analysis  Click here to learn more about Valerie LiClick here to learn more about Duckie.aiHuge thanks to Valerie for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring her work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks to name a few) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Check out the CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,Here's the first CXWeekly Update from CXC in a long time!This week's episode I walk through some ideas, goals & CTAs that I've learned from the 5 years of building CXC.Don't worry we have a ton of amazing guest interviews coming down the pipeline over the next couple of weeks.Part of our goal at CXC is to create more customer focused business leader content, including short episodes like these ones that are digestible, actionable & most importantly entertaining & valuable for all of you.Full candor, we also wanted to celebrate our 5 year anniversary of building CXChronicles. We are approaching 300+ episodes of customer focused business content, we've worked with almost 150+ companies across the world helping them make customer & employee happiness a habit & we are now partnered with some of biggest players in software & technology including Salesforce, Hubspot, Intercom, Zendesk, & Freshworks to name a few. If you enjoy The CXChronicles Podcast, stop by your favorite podcast player and leave us a review today.You know what would be even better?Go tell one of your friends or teammates about CXC's content, CX/CS/RevOps services, our customer & employee focused community & invite them to join the CX Nation!Are you looking to learn more about the world of Customer Experience, Customer Success & Revenue Operations?Click here to grab a copy of my book "The Four CX Pillars To Grow Your Business Now" available on Amazon or the CXC website.For you non-readers, go check out the CXChronicles Youtube channel to see our customer & employee focused video content & short-reel CTAs to improve your CX/CS/RevOps performance today (politely go smash that subscribe button).Contact us anytime to learn more about CXC at INFO@cxchronicles.com and ask us about how we can help your business & team make customer happiness a habit now!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #267, we welcomed Michele Shane, SVP Business Development at UJet.CX based in San Francisco, CA. UJET is a next-generation cloud contact center platform that leverages AI to modernize the customer experience. The UJet.CX platform & services embed intelligent automation at every touchpoint, empowering agents, optimizing customer journeys, and transforming operations into real-time insight engines.In this episode, Michele and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that Michele & her team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #267 Highlight Reel:**1. Human-centric approach to CX & growing your business 2. Power of people over technology & building your vision 3. Slow is smooth & smooth is fast 4. Importance of constant feedback from customers, employees & builders 5. Taking action on the right bits of customer feedback Click here to learn more about Michele ShaneClick here to learn more about UJet.CXHuge thanks to Michele for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring her work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks to name a few) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Be one of our Pioneer users of the recently launched CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

In the near future, less than 10% of access will come from humans, the rest will be agents? What happens when your next user isn't human? In this episode of the #ZeroToInfinity podcast, Pranay Desai sits down with Satya Devarakonda and Ravi Madabhushi, founders of ScaleKit, to decode a fundamental shift in software: the rise of agents as first-class users. Humans log in and out with predictable patterns. Agents are transient, transactional, and unpredictable, hitting systems hundreds of times a minute. ScaleKit's modular approach is built for this new reality, where AI agents, not humans, dominate usage. Satya and Ravi bring rare scar tissue and foresight. From PipeMog in 2013, to FreshID at Freshworks, to now ScaleKit, they've spent a decade solving identity and access at scale, and are rethinking it for an agent-first world. The duo also shares what it means to build again as second-time founders: why distribution matters more than product, what they've unlearned from Freshworks, and how agents are evolving from assistants into colleagues who accelerate productivity.

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #266, we welcomed Adam Coffey, Founding Partner of The Chairman Group based in Dallas, TX.The Chairman Group™ is a consulting firm founded by Adam Coffey.  Adam spent 21 years building 3 national companies for 9 private equity firms.  During his career Adam completed 58 acquisitions and had $2.4 billion in successful exits.  As an author, Adam's books "The Private Equity Playbook" (2019) (2024), "The Exit Strategy Playbook" (2021) and Empire Builder (2023) all became #1 Amazon Best Sellers.His mission today is to help business owners, private equity firms and executives maximize outcomes. In this episode, Adam and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that Adam & his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #266 Highlight Reel:**1. The "Pilot's Philosophy": Know Your Destination 2. Fixing what matters most in any customer experience 3. Focusing on the "high-value" work as a Founder/CEO 4. Avoiding arrogance & mastering the art of delegation 5. Dreamers vs. Does -- stop dreaming & start doing Click here to learn more about Adam CoffeyClick here to learn more about The Chairman GroupHuge thanks to Adam for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & private equity space into the future. For Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks to name a few) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Be one of our Pioneer users of the recently launched CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

A full founder's arc: starting small, building global SaaS companies from Hyderabad, taking one to IPO, another to a billion-dollar exit, and then choosing to begin again (and again).Kiran Darisi began at Zoho, founding team member of Freshworks at 25, and stayed twelve years till the company went public. Today he is building Atomicwork, reinventing service management in the AI era. Sreedhar Peddineni started with Host Analytics back when SaaS was still called application service provider, went on to create the customer success category with Gainsight, and is now on his third venture with GTM Buddy.In this episode, we talk about what it takes to build companies that last for decades. We discuss how startups can find the “Goldilocks zone”,why smaller teams are creating more value than ever, and the mistakes founders often make when moving from SMB to enterprise.Both founders share how AI is reshaping every layer of SaaS, why it's both eating the pie and expanding it and what's left for entrepreneurs when the biggest AI companies are chasing every vertical.This conversation looks back at some of India's iconic SaaS companies, shares lessons from two decades of building, and looks ahead to the future of SaaS from India.0:00 — Atomicwork x GTM Buddy1:17 — Why They Chose to Be Founders Again8:27 — How to generate pipeline predictability at a startup?16:46 — Becoming Freshworks' Co-Founder at 2519:43 — How Atomicwork Co-Founders Connected & Chose Their Problem23:25 — Building Companies That Last for Decades27:18 — Why Smaller, High-Quality Teams Win30:21 — 1st vs 2nd Founders: What They Get Wrong31:56 — Scaling: SMB → Mid-Market → Enterprise33:36 — Category Creation at Gainsight40:03 — Disrupting vs Expanding Large Categories44:08 — How to Choose the Right Market49:08 — Why Atomicwork Chose This Category53:11 — The 'Goldilocks Zone' for a Startup Category57:11 — Can Salesforce Be Replaced?58:26 — Neon Fund x Atomicwork1:01:27 — Neon Fund x GTM Buddy1:03:44 — If Big AI Goes Everywhere, What's Left for B2B SaaS?1:07:36 — What to Build in the AI Era?1:10:35 — Is AI Expanding the Pie While Eating It?1:17:03 — How Useful Are Custom GPTs for Companies?1:20:34 — Workflows vs AI Workforce-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

All links and images can be found on CISO Series. This week's episode is hosted by David Spark, producer of CISO Series and Andy Ellis, principal of Duha. Joining us is Jason Loomis, CISO, Freshworks. In this episode: Making organizations take their security medicine Building CISO support systems Holding the door for humans Underappreciated risks: beyond the headlines Huge thanks to our sponsor, Safe Security SAFE is the category leader in Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) and the first vendor to deliver fully autonomous Third-Party Risk Management.We help CISOs, GRC, and TPRM leaders continuously and efficiently quantify, prioritize, and mitigate cyber risks across their entire attack surface — enabling digital growth and resilience. Learn more at tprmdemo.safe.security.  

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #265, we welcomed Mario Baddour, President & CEO of InteLogix, based in Park City, UT. InteLogix provides customer experience (CX) solutions and accounts receivable management (ARM) operations that enhance customer loyalty and revenue for their clients. They combine human engagement with digital tools and automation to minimize customer effort and boost loyalty by offer long-term value through scalable CX and both first-party and third-party ARM operations.Their mission is to make lives better by engaging, listening, and resolving consumer concerns and obligations with empathy and innovation. And advocate for their clients brands and reputations as their own.In this episode, Mario and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team at InteLogix think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #265 Highlight Reel:**1. Focusing on building an elite Team above all else to drive success & growth 2. Solving problems for your customers & providing constant value  3. Structuring & configuring your data before finding the optimal tech-solutions 4. Building & deploying living playbooks to propel your team forward rapidly 5. Taking customer data & feedback to drive product development Click here to learn more about Mario BaddourClick here to learn more about InteLogixHuge thanks to Mario for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & customer contact space into the future.For Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks to name a few) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? We launched CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building the pillars upon an AI-powered foundation for the future. Huge thanks for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

In the world of AI-powered marketing, experimentation is just the beginning. But how do you scale it for real business growth? Mika Yamamoto, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Freshworks, joins us to share her journey of moving beyond AI experimentation to driving AI-powered growth within a marketing org. From creating AI-driven customer support solutions to scaling AI tools for sales teams, Mika talks about the trials, triumphs, and the critical role of experimentation in shaping Freshworks' AI strategy. In this episode, we talk about how to implement AI tools effectively, gain executive buy-in, and unlock true growth potential with AI.  

Today's guest, Dilawar Syed, is a perfect person to kick off this season. I met Dilawar last year while working with the Brookings Institution, focusing on the issue of aging business owners. At the time, Dilawar was Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration. His background is extensive, including his role as President of Freshworks, a company that serves small businesses. This spring, we collaborated on a piece for The Conversation and Fast Company about how tariff uncertainty can paralyze small business operators. As you can imagine, Dilawar has a lot of insight to share on this and other topics here on The Owner's Box.

In today's Tech3 from Moneycontrol, we bring you the top stories shaping the world of startups and technology. Girish Mathrubootham officially exits Freshworks after nearly 15 years. Urban Company's cap table gets a boost with Tiger Global and Accel offloading shares ahead of its IPO. We track how online credit card transactions are set to overtake offline swipes, and wrap up with Amazon and Flipkart's festive sale dates.

In this edition of Moneycontrol Editor's Picks, find an exclusive interview with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman where she addresses everything from GST rate cut, Trump tariffs to purchasing Russian oil. We also decode how various industries are adapting to the GST rate cut - further taxes on tobacco are on the horizon, insurers are assessing input tax credit treatment, and food delivery platforms may pass on additional cost burden to consumers. Also inside: Freshworks founder interview, probe into high frequency traders and an expected advertising boom.

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #264, we welcomed Mika Yamamoto, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Freshworks based in San Mateo, CA. Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) builds uncomplicated service software that delivers exceptional customer and employee experiences. Their enterprise-grade solutions are powerful, yet easy to use, and quick to deliver results. Their people-first approach to AI eliminates friction, making employees more effective and organizations more productive.Over 72,000 companies, including Bridgestone, New Balance, Nucor, S&P Global, and Sony Music, trust Freshworks' customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) software to fuel customer loyalty and service efficiency.In this episode, Mika and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that her team at Freshworks think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #264 Highlight Reel:**1. The power of reflection & attention to the customer journey you're building 2. Enhancing customer experience through employee engagement  3. Building your playbook on tech-stack efficiency and utilization 4. Breaking down silos to build world-class customer & employee experiences 5. Investing in "Voice of Customer" (VOC) & "Voice of Employee" (VOE) Click here to learn more about Mika YamamotoClick here to learn more about FreshworksHuge thanks to Mika for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring her work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & customer success space into the future.For our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new listeners & members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell one of your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content,  strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks to name a few) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of nearly 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's best CX-driven companies? We recently launched CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building the pillars upon an AI-powered foundation for the future. Huge thanks for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

In this episode of The Option Block, host Mark Longo and his all-star panel including Uncle Mike Tosaw from St. Charles Wealth Management and Henry 'The Flowmaster' Schwartz from Cboe discuss various topics related to the options market. The show covers a wide range of issues such as reactions to Microsoft and Meta's impressive earnings, interesting call buys in lesser-known stocks like Coursera and Freshworks, and detailed breakdowns of recent unusual options activity. Listener polls on trading challenges and strategical preferences are addressed while Uncle Mike and Henry share their insights on the current market environment and upcoming economic events.    03:08 Market Analysis and Trading Strategies 06:27 Earnings Reports and Market Movers 12:34 Options Trading Insights and Trends 18:45 Earnings Season Highlights 29:32 Coinbase and Market Movements 30:19 Riot and Roku Analysis 30:55 Moderna and Cboe Insights 31:25 Earnings Season Highlights 32:15 Odd Block: Unusual Options Activity 32:55 Coursera and Freshworks Trades 39:46 Bristol Myers Squibb Breakdown 46:40 Listener Mail and Poll Results 53:33 Around the Block: Market Watch  

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #261 we were capturing live interviews at Customer Contact Week at The Caeasar's Forum in Las Vegas, NV.We joined 5,000+ attendees, from 49 states, 51 countries, and spent time meeting & learning from 250+ of the largest solution providers in the CX & customer contact center space. Let's call it what is folks, this is essentially the "Super Bowl of CX" the best & brightest companies in our game gather at CCW to talk shop & share their latest & greatest features, gadgets & services.Our guest interviews for this IRL (in-real life) event episode included: Peter Nilsson (Microsoft), Michael Kinsella & Tomas Piacek (Klearcom), Ashu Dubey (Alhena AI) Janet Vito & Emily Cash (Cyara). Each of the guests in this episode had unique points of view on the state of CX/CS/Customer Support & what the future of business will look like in today's world thanks to our favorite new little buddy, AI. **Episode #261 Highlight Reel:**1. CXC IRL Interviews from CCW Las Vegas 20252. Learnings from 250+ leading solution providers in customer contact3. Things that are top of mind for CX/CS/Support executives4. Improving your customer experience & building alongside AI for the future5. Examples of world-leading AI companies/solutions to keep your eyes onClick here to watch CXCP #261 On CXC YoutubeClick here to learn about Customer Contact WeekHuge thanks to everyone for joining us on this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring their work and efforts in pushing the customer & employee (agent) experience space into the future.If you enjoy The CXChronicles Podcast, stop by your favorite podcast player hit the follow button and leave us a review today.For our Apple & Spotify friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new listeners & members to expand our customer focused community.You know what would be even better?Go tell one of your friends or teammates about CXC's content,  strategic partners (Hubspot, Intercom, Zendesk, Freshworks, Forethought AI & Ascendr) + check-out the CXC Healthzone to learn more about our CX/CS/RevOps focused on-demand services.Are you looking to learn more about the world of Customer Sales & Marketing, Customer Experience, Customer Success, Employee Experience & Revenue Operations?Click here to grab a copy of my book "The Four CX Pillars To Grow Your Business Now" available on Amazon or the CXC website.For you non-readers, go check out the CXChronicles Youtube channel to see our customer & employee focused business content. Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Earlier this year, I spoke with Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks, about why speed and ROI matter more than ever in AI adoption. Today, we continue that conversation—this time from the IT frontline. In this episode, I'm joined by Ashwin Ballal, CIO of Freshworks and a 30-year tech industry veteran with a track record of driving transformation across global enterprises. From his days leading intelligence and data strategy at KLA to his role as CIO at Medallia, Ashwin knows what it takes to modernize without overcomplicating. We explore: The real impact AI is having inside IT teams and where the hype still outweighs reality Why simplifying IT environments is becoming a strategic priority for CIOs How AI is being used to augment, not replace, human capability The pressure to deliver measurable outcomes with fewer resources—and what leaders are doing about it Ashwin also shares a candid view on upskilling, internal adoption, and how CIOs can keep innovation moving forward while managing complexity and cost. This conversation is released in time for Freshworks' ‘Refresh' event and ties into broader industry trends around operational efficiency, human-centered AI, and IT's changing role in business strategy. If you're a CIO, tech leader, or just trying to cut through the noise around AI in the enterprise, this one's worth your time.

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Karthik Krishna, Manager of Solutions Engineering at Freshworks and Presales Collective's Regional Community Leader for Chennai. They explore how Solutions Engineers can gain strategic influence in deal cycles beyond just giving demos and answering technical questions. Episode Highlights Karthik shares his journey from developer to pre-sales professional The evolution from "demo-giver" to strategic partner in deal cycles How SEs can co-own opportunities with Account Executives Navigating tough conversations when deals aren't a good technical fit Building credibility to increase your strategic influence Leveraging customer success and implementation teams for deal strategy About Our Guest Karthik Krishna is a Manager of Solutions Engineering at Freshworks, where he has built and coached distributed teams of SEs across companies of all sizes. He also serves as the Presales Collective Regional Community Leader for Chennai, recently hosting an event with over 60 SEs in attendance. Follow the Hosts and Guest Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/ Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/ Connect with Karthik Krishna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthikkrishna-s/  Links and Resources Mentioned Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack Presales Collective: https://www.presalescollective.com Timestamps 00:00 - Welcome and introduction 02:46 - Karthik's background and journey to presales 05:28 - What it means to "be in the room" for deal strategy 11:27 - Handling deals that aren't a good technical fit 16:30 - Building AE-SE relationships and trust 20:02 - Leveraging past customer experiences 27:14 - Growing strategic influence as an SE 32:30 - First experience in pipeline meetings and QBRs Key Topics Covered The Evolution of the SE Role From technical demonstrator to strategic partner Building relationships alongside technical expertise Flying "under the radar" while still influencing deals Co-Ownership vs. Support Understanding sales' responsibilities and pressures Taking appropriate accountability for deal outcomes Building a partnership model with Account Executives Strategic Influence Tactics Speaking up consistently, even when not initially heard Framing technical concerns alongside potential solutions Leveraging past experiences and customer success stories Cross-Functional Collaboration Involving product, implementation, and customer success teams Using collective wisdom to validate concerns Creating a "common voice" across departments Building Credibility Trust your instincts and speak up Demonstrate value through accurate deal insights Help teammates at critical junctures Bottom Line Solutions Engineers possess unique insights that can make or break deals, but gaining the opportunity to share those insights strategically requires building credibility, relationships, and influence over time. The most successful SEs find ways to contribute to deal strategy while respecting the unique pressures faced by their sales counterparts. Presales LIVE airs every other Tuesday. Join the Presales Collective Slack community to stay updated on future episodes, and follow the PSC LinkedIn page for upcoming shows.  

How do you turn AI investment into measurable outcomes, not just inflated expectations? In this episode, I'm joined by Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks, to unpack how mid-sized businesses can move fast with AI, show results quickly, and stay competitive without enterprise-level complexity or pricing. Dennis shares how Freshworks is helping companies achieve real productivity gains and customer support improvements through accessible, enterprise-grade AI tools. With solutions that boost agent performance, reduce repetitive tickets, and deliver useful insights to managers, Freshworks is proving that you don't need to be a tech giant to see value from AI. We also explore the challenges that hold mid-market businesses back from adopting AI, and how Freshworks is helping them overcome barriers with tools that are fast to implement, easy to evaluate, and flexible enough to grow with the business. Dennis also reflects on what the industry can learn from customer case studies, including how one company achieved over 250 percent ROI and saved $100,000 annually by streamlining support with AI. If your business is exploring how to make AI work without long timelines or runaway budgets, this conversation offers a grounded view into what's working—and why. Are you measuring real return on AI in your organization, or just chasing the trend?