2 senior execs of Freshworks quit after co-founder’s exit in March

Freshworks has reported the exit of two senior executives after co-founder Shanmugam Krishnasamy quit the Nasdaq-listed software as a service (SaaS) company in March.

Suman Gopalan, chief human resource officer (CHRO), and Stacey Epstein, chief marketing officer (CMO), have moved out.

The company said that it has selected a CHRO, who will start work by the end of August, and it is looking for a new CMO. “After years of being an integral part of Freshworks, Suman and Stacey have independently decided to move on from Freshworks. For the last few months, they’ve continued their responsibilities while supporting the searches to find strong replacements and ensure seamless transitions for their teams,” the company said in a statement when asked about the exits.

“We are grateful for their years of hard work, taking us through initial public offering and life as a public company, and the foundation Suman and Stacey have established for the future success of Freshworks,” it added.

Krishnasamy, co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO), was the brains behind the company’s technical operations.

Freshworks is an eight-year-old startup that started as Freshdesk before being rebranded in 2017. Freshworks in September 2021 became the third Chennai-based technology company to be listed on the Nasdaq, after Cognizant and Sify. It is the first Indian SaaS company to do so.

In December last year, the company laid off around 2 per cent, or 90 people, of its total workforce “to fuel business growth”. The company’s revenue increased 19 per cent to $145.1 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to the same time last year.