Freshworks’ startup summit brings back the heady rush of roundtables, networking, VC connects
Freshworks has always been a friend of startups and small businesses—providing a refreshing, user-friendly, and affordable software for them to thrive. We built this friendship over the course of 10 years, and alongside came a host of learnings that helped us scale further. The idea of Freshworks for Startups was born out of the need to pay it forward to the community, with whom we share our roots.
Startups have had a rough ride during this pandemic. As a way to help startups learn from significant ecosystem leaders on their challenges and how they have fought through it, Freshworks for Startups is organizing the Against All Odds Startup Summit. After two successful events in India and Asia, the event is now open for registrations in North America and Europe.
The first-of-its-kind opportunity for startup founders and leaders
Pre-recorded virtual events are nice, but are common and hold little scope for engagement and candidness. To be able to do a live virtual event at this scale is exciting and unheard of. Another stand-out factor of this summit is that it is aligned toward 1:1 networking, roundtable discussions, and VC connects, and not as much on monologues.
VC connects and funding opportunities
Since it’s harder for startups and VCs to meet these days, we’ve made enough room for participants to schedule meetings with investors and vice versa. Marquee VCs participating in the summit include Accel, Sequoia Capital, 500 Startups, Differential Ventures, Secocha Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sure Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Angular Ventures, Baltic Sandbox, and Startup Wise Guys. The event aims to enable at least 500 meetings between investors and startups.
Experiential learning: Frameworks, sessions, and roundtable conversations
The summit broadly aims to provide actionable insights to startups attending the event. To that end, we’ve curated sessions where experts share tried and tested frameworks as well as participate in roundtable sessions that spark intelligent conversation. Practitioners will discuss various topics including value-based pricing, remote selling, and building traction through the community.
One-on-one networking and mimicking the real-world experience
We have two types of networking options at the event. One is a scheduled meeting experience where you can find and schedule meetings with people of interest to you. The second is a randomizer where you get to meet other attendees for 5 minutes—a speed dating of sorts. You connect, share thoughts and contact details, and drop off.
Speakers: The tastemakers and thought leaders
Among the startup founders and industry leaders who will be speaking at the North America summit are Girish Mathrubootham (CEO and founder, Freshworks), Sir Michael Moritz (Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital), Seth Godin (entrepreneur and author), Elad Gil (entrepreneur and investor), Barry Padgett (COO, Amperity), Johanna Flower (CMO, CrowdStrike), and Tyler Sloat (CFO, Freshworks).
The Europe edition has a similar all-star lineup that includes Philippe Botteri (Partner, Accel), Anthony Rose (CEO, SeedLegals), Tao Tao (COO and co-founder, GetYourGuide), Johnny Boufarhat (CEO and founder, Hopin), and Andrey Khusid (CEO and founder, Miro).
Freshworks and our love for startups
On our journey to becoming one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the world, we’ve had plenty of help. We’re now looking to pay it forward with the Freshworks for Startups initiative. Through the program, we not only provide eligible startups with up to $10,000 in credits but also access to mentors, markets, and the larger community.
Register for our North America summit
Register for our UK & Europe summit
