‘You have to be willing to make those hard choices’: Freshworks CEO on crossing $1 billion in ARR with 30% fewer employees in the AI software age

Freshworks has reached a significant milestone with $1 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), CEO Dennis Woodside told Fortune. The company, founded in Chennai, India in 2008, ended its third quarter on September 30 with $992 million in ARR, crossing the $1 billion mark in October after acquiring Torii and Robusta. Woodside, who took over as CEO in May 2024, believes that hitting the $1 billion ARR mark is a strong indication of the company's scale.

Prior to joining Freshworks, Woodside spent time at Motorola Mobility and Dropbox, and he took over the company with a vision to shift resources towards the enterprise segment (EX) of the business, which now accounts for 59% of the company's ARR. Woodside has made a point of making tough decisions about what not to invest in, such as smaller projects and certain product lines, to focus on areas with high market potential and a unique competitive advantage.