Pictures of the Indian tricolour at Times Square became a social-media highlight on September 22 last year as Freshworks’ stock debuted on Nasdaq. The listing, part of a unicorn IPO wave, drew the world’s attention to India’s flourishing software-as-a-service space.

The significance of this moment has been written about extensively. The lesser-known story is how Freshworks founder-CEO Girish Mathrubootham and other decision-makers went about beefing up leadership ranks in the long lead-up to the public listing. Veteran Silicon Valley executives well versed in market nuances were recruited in 2020 and 2021 to signal the startup’s global outlook.

“These are all executives who have worked in a global role before. All of them are aware of what it takes to be a global leader and how to build teams accordingly. That is something we are very particular about,” Freshworks’ chief HR officer, Suman Gopalan, told The CapTable.