As we look back,
We don't measure ourselves by numbers,
but we measure by the impact - the impact we have had
on employees and their families, impact on customers and their businesses,
impact on the community, impact on the partners, the ecosystem,
and of course, impact on the industry. There are several companies out there
building products. What makes Zoho different is, we
not only build products, but we focus on building know-how and capability to
build products in regions that are otherwise ignored,
and providing opportunity to people that are otherwise ignored.
We have employees who have been with the company for a long time. We have employees
who have spent over half their life in Zoho,
and we also have employees who are with us now,
but were born after we started the company, and we have employees joining us through
conventional means, and of course, we also have employees who come through
the Zoho Schools and we have some employees
who joined us through some unconventional routes.
He may have joined us through a security job,
he is now a developer at Zoho - developing applications for
Zoho Analytics team.
There is a lot of latent talent in the world
that is really waiting for that opportunity, that first step on the ladder.
At Zoho, we have actually specialized in providing that opportunity,
get people on the first step on the ladder and then they figure out how to
climb afterwards.
It's really that the talent is everywhere
in our estimation. In fact, if we could do it all over again, if you could do it all
over the world we would create so much opportunity.
People often look at Zoho Schools of learning and see it as an institution that is providing
opportunities to the ignored masses. Yes! Right to an extent. But, Zoho is also benefiting from this.
That's the little secret right there. Here is raw talent that's just being disregarded or not being
acknowledged, simply because, probably they don't have good english knowledge; Probably they haven't
been exposed to a computer early in their lives; Probably they missed out on all the exposure
city education could give them. It is not a lack of talent, but a lack of exposure.
Talent is universal. Opportunity is not. With that,
we want to take the opportunity where talent is
and we've had the opportunity to open up offices in various locations
rurally in India. Now we have expanded
that idea beyond India. We now have offices in two locations in U.S.
One is in New Braunfels - Texas, and the other one
is outside of Bastrop - Texas, and we plan
to add more in U.S. Similarly,
we started offices in Cornwall - Ontario in Canada.
We have also added two offices in Mexico - San Juan Del Rio as well as in Tequisquiapan,
and these are two small towns outside of Karetharo, where we already have an
office, and we are doing the same in various
locations in Europe as well as in Asia Pacific,
and we have always had an office in Kuwana, Japan,
and all of these offices are are basically based on the same
underlying philosophy where, we want to take
opportunity where the talent is
and we are proud of doing this.
The part of the long term thinking
in the company is this notion of investing in people
and part of the thinking from the start might
align with Stevenson's words about
don't measure your day by the harvest you reap
but rather measure by the seeds you sow.
So for us, this notion of thinking long term,
looking at the macroeconomic picture;
looking at where investments have long term value, has been part of it.
Our purpose in Zoho is to create opportunity for
people who do not have that opportunity and create
really compelling technology for customers
who could not afford that before, and, create this in locations which
you have not seen, that have not taken part in the
technology revolution before. So, it's all of those three.
Opportunity for employees, really compelling products for customers
and to serve large geographic locations that have not been served before.
I have been seeing Zoho
running one of its development centers in Tenkasi, the rural south TamilNadu.
Based on that, we decided to move to my native,
Thirunelveli. There are two core reasons inbuilt into the
objective. One is like keeping ourselves frugal,
creating affordable software for the global market.
Second one is like we just want to contribute to the society back.
There are people who are struggling to travel out of Thirunelveli
either due to monetary reasons or language barriers, who can still build
great products.
So, keeping these two reasons in mind and following the Zoho way,
we moved ourselves to Thirunelveli to start the company.
Zoho is like a sort of
a fruit bearing tree right, where the seeds are distributed,
the DNA of how to do SaaS is, sort of, dispersed
and then each one creates its own tree and hopefully it
just becomes it becomes a forest. So,
I'll be proud of that, being part of the forest.
We have a goal of training a thousand rural Americans to become remote Zoho developers
and consultants over the next two years. So far, last 4 months, since starting,
we have 13 placements and another 6 students to getting ready to interview this week.
So things are going fantastic! I think it was one of the first zoholics
you did back then and I was blown away by the passion of the team, by the enthusiasm of the
team. I left that event deciding Zoho was the future. It reminded me of Apple, your other great,
big company that came out of San Francisco and I wanted to be part of that party. Boy! Has it
been a ride over the last 12 years, for me now. Stick around Zoho, because of the super unique
business model they've built that the ethics and the philosophy that they apply to business,
its just unheard-of, especially in American tech. The impact of Zoho isn't just about architecture,
technology, tools that anyone can use, tools that businesses can implement, privacy, security and
intelligence. The impact of Zoho that I think of, is really about that audacity to think,
"What if?". "What if I can grow a Zucchini?!". I'm a girl from L.A, why am I growing a zucchini?
But, the reality is, what Zoho has brought to the industry is, that ability to believe, "What
if I taught a school full of kids?"; "What if I trained a whole new generation of technologists?";
"What if, I decided being in the Silicon Valley wasn't the right place for a business to grow?".
All of these "What if"s', pulled together over 25 years, that's what makes Zoho great.
Who would've believed that trip in 2013, when Zoho had less than 800 people,
would lead to me starting a company that now employs over 30 people.
I can use my Zoho knowledge and the success of my business to create some really impactful
economic growth and opportunity for people in my rural community. That's what has led us to
decide a bloom where we've been planted here at world's south-west Utah. Our family is here,
you love living here, you want to create something special here and create an opportunity
for those in our community to live here. Zoho has had a tremendous impact, not just
economically, but also in the social development of the district. Zoho has been very successful in
tapping the talent which is there in the rural areas. One - Of course, they have given a lot of
qualitative employment to the people of that region.
The second one is the overall economic development that has happened in that area.
People have welcomed Zoho wherever they go because Zoho accustomises itself and acclimatizes to the
local needs of the people. They get themselves along with the people and people start owning
that place. The local people start owning Zoho. They start feeling that it is one amongst them.
we don't really have to bring everybody out of the rural areas, bring them to the
town and make them educated and take them to heights. We need to see that every rural area
gets all the amenities that are required, take on the strength of the rural areas, rebuild on that,
bring back the confidence among our rural youth that they are not to be sidelined. They have the
equal opportunities compared to the children who are there in the town or the urban areas.
That is the confidence we have to build on and they have tremendous strength in themselves, so
we've got to revive that strength among the rural youth and catching them young is very important.
Now that is where I think the schools have started working upon - the Zoho Schools
that you're working on; Now that will help children, from their young age to get all the
extra facilities that a child who is there in the urban areas would get, and
also take on the talent that they have already - the strength that they already have. So,
this is the real revival. I'm happy that you are doing that.
Embedding ourselves in the community and being an asset to
the community is a key aspect and along with
building the capital in the community. When I say capital,
I'm not referring to capital defined the traditional way.
I define capital quite differently from most people.
For me, capital is not just its financial valuation.
In fact the financial value of capital is the least
important or interesting part of it. Capital, to me,
is a whole set of capabilities, human capabilities, know-how
expertise, culture and the ability of a group of people to work together for a
common cause. All of that is capital. Of course, the
physical infrastructure, buildings, computers all of that also
are part of it but the human capability, the culture is far more important
because infrastructure can be replaced but human beings can never be replaced.
So, that is why that is, to me, my core definition of capital.
Like that definition of capital, we always
approach business through the first principle thinking.
We always focused on what matters most - values or valuations,
education over credentials,
capital (as in capability) versus market capitalization,
quality of life over rat race. So, we always focused on what mattered.
Some of these are influenced by philosophy and philosophy
plays an important role in Zoho.
Philosophy seems, at first, something far
removed from everyday concerns of business.
But, in reality philosophy is extremely important
and this is where your core convictions come from.
For example, we talk about creating opportunity for people who
lack it, creating opportunity for talent that does not have it.
That is a philosophical premise. Why should we have to do it?
That's a philosophical premise. It's a conviction that comes from within.
In the same way, why should we work on rural initiatives,
why should we try to bring talent back into rural areas?
All of these come from deep philosophical wellsprings
So, it is very important for business people to be aware of
the inner motivations, the philosophical journey within
from which all these motivations arise. These convictions
play a crucial role in the everyday decisions we make at Zoho.
One such example is privacy.
I wrote the first Privacy Policy for Zoho
and one of the statements that was there right from the beginning is that,
we will not use your data for any marketing purposes
and till date we've held on to that promise, that we will not monetize your data
so even before GDPR, now I'm talking
about 2006 when I wrote the first privacy policy.
So, in 2006 we made this promise that we will not monetize your data
and that was much before people started talking about privacy,
talking about data protection.
So, I think this data protection and privacy - the respect for
users' data is something that has been there with Zoho.
From building a deep technology stack to doing deep R & D in rural villages,
from building over 100 products across industries
to providing opportunity to over thousands of employees,
from prioritizing education over credentials
to prioritizing R & D over sales and marketing,
from prioritizing privacy over profits to believing in zero debt philosophy,
from doing marketing through engineering to doing
organic farming as part of the business,
all of these are driven by our convictions.
For the last 25 years, I've been very fortunate to work with
many of my senior colleagues, who've been there all along this journey
and that's something that is incredibly supportive because without them there's
no way
this whole organization could have been built and this
in fact, I often wondered why would people want to stay with us
and ultimately, it is not just for money not just for
material well-being, it is also a fulfillment.
For all of us, this journey has been extremely fulfilling and that is why
people are still with us and we want to go another 25 years,
if the universe is willing on this journey.
Wow! 25 years at the same company seems
like a lifetime on our industry. But, to be honest, this wasn't planned, it just happened.
We have over 100 people who have been with the company
for over 20 years and a few thousand people who have been
with us for over a decade. All employees committed towards the
mission along with our convictions and culture
make up the root system of Zoho. Look at Zoho
as a plant. Externally, what you see is what's above the surface.
Internally, what we see is what's underneath the soil.
Over the last 25 years, we built a deep root system.
A root system with people, with values, built with conviction and culture and
that root system goes deep and wide.
We don't look at it as a 'work-life', we look at it as our 'life's work'.
We thank you for your support.
Namaste!