In the 89th episode of Burning Platform, we host Tony Thomas, one of the co-founders of Zoho.
On this blog we have covered many aspects of Zoho – its unique culture, its vertical integration, its business model, its commitment to rural revival. In this episode, Tony describes the long journey the founders including the CEO, Sridhar Vembu have endured. Sridhar had provided his perspective in this blog post
They were humble back then – Tony says “we didn't know anything about business, we were technology guys having fun building something.”. They are humble even now “we realize things are never as bad as they seem, things are never as good as they seem. So realizing that there will be ups and downs, and looking ahead to better days is the way to be.”
We also discuss growth markets for Zoho – emerging economies, verticals, AI infused in their products.
Not surprisingly he ends on a positive note “It’s a great time to be technologists building solutions…..Technology is the answer to many of our problems, like solving climate change to other problems facing humanity. I'd say allowing teams to build with technology and continuing that is where I see the optimism for the future.”
30 minutes of wisdom. In his blog post, Sridhar had described Tony “as my personal daily Buddha”
A must watch – you will get another perspective on what makes Zoho tick.
