Freshworks Names Srinivasan Raghavan As Chief Product Officer

Nasdaq-listed SaaS major Freshworks has appointed Srinivasan Raghavan as its chief product officer (CPO).

Raghavan, who has over two decades of experience in enterprise SaaS, will spearhead the company’s product strategy, focusing on AI-driven customer (CX) and employee experiences (EX), Freshworks said in a statement.

Raghavan previously served as the CPO at RingCentral, where he expanded its cloud-based product portfolio. He also held leadership roles at Five9 and Cisco, overseeing the development of AI-powered solutions and multi-product scaling initiatives.

“Srini (Srinivasan) is a key addition to our team to lead innovation that delivers a scalable trajectory for growth across our three key business priorities: employee experience, artificial intelligence, and customer experience,” Freshworks CEO and president Dennis Woodside said on the appointment. 

Raghavan has replaced Srinivasagopalan Ramamurthy, who resigned from the position of CPO in August this year. 

It is pertinent to note that Freshworks has seen many major changes at top-level executive positions over the last year or so. In May, its cofounder and the then CEO Girish Mathrubootham stepped down from his role to transition into the role of executive chairman. Woodside was announced as the successor of Mathrubootham for the CEO’s role. 

In September this year, the company appointed Murali Swaminathan as its CTO to lead its global engineering and architecture teams, overseeing its technology roadmap and strategy. 

The latest development comes weeks after the company announced plans to cut about 13% of its global workforce as part of a restructuring plan to streamline operations and increase operational efficiency.

In an email to the staff, Woodside had said that the job cuts will affect about 660 employees.

Notably, the SaaS major expects to incur $11 Mn to $13 Mn in restructuring costs in the fourth quarter of 2024, which will comprise severance payments, employee benefits and related expenses. 

Along with the layoff announcement, Freshworks also said that its board of directors approved a stock buyback programme worth $400 Mn of its outstanding Class A common stock.

Founded in 2010 by Mathrubootham and Shanmugam (Shan) Krishnasamy, Freshworks offers a suite of software for customer service and support, customer engagement and IT service management. The company went public in 2021.

Shares of Freshworks were trading 2.56% higher at $16.40 on NASDAQ at 8:50 PM.