A full founder’s arc: starting small, building global SaaS companies from Hyderabad, taking one to IPO, another to a billion-dollar exit, and then choosing to begin again (and again).

Kiran Darisi began at Zoho, founding team member of Freshworks at 25, and stayed twelve years till the company went public. Today he is building Atomicwork, reinventing service management in the AI era.

Sreedhar Peddineni started with Host Analytics back when SaaS was still called application service provider, went on to create the customer success category with Gainsight, and is now on his third venture with GTM Buddy.

In this episode, we talk about what it takes to build companies that last for decades. We discuss how startups can find the “Goldilocks zone”,why smaller teams are creating more value than ever, and the mistakes founders often make when moving from SMB to enterprise.

Both founders share how AI is reshaping every layer of SaaS, why it’s both eating the pie and expanding it and what’s left for entrepreneurs when the biggest AI companies are chasing every vertical.

This conversation looks back at some of India’s iconic SaaS companies, shares lessons from two decades of building, and looks ahead to the future of SaaS from India.

0:00 — Atomicwork x GTM Buddy
1:17 — Why They Chose to Be Founders Again
8:27 — How to generate pipeline predictability at a startup?
16:46 — Becoming Freshworks’ Co-Founder at 25
19:43 — How Atomicwork Co-Founders Connected & Chose Their Problem
23:25 — Building Companies That Last for Decades
27:18 — Why Smaller, High-Quality Teams Win
30:21 — 1st vs 2nd Founders: What They Get Wrong
31:56 — Scaling: SMB → Mid-Market → Enterprise
33:36 — Category Creation at Gainsight
40:03 — Disrupting vs Expanding Large Categories
44:08 — How to Choose the Right Market
49:08 — Why Atomicwork Chose This Category
53:11 — The 'Goldilocks Zone' for a Startup Category
57:11 — Can Salesforce Be Replaced?
58:26 — Neon Fund x Atomicwork
1:01:27 — Neon Fund x GTM Buddy
1:03:44 — If Big AI Goes Everywhere, What’s Left for B2B SaaS?
1:07:36 — What to Build in the AI Era?
1:10:35 — Is AI Expanding the Pie While Eating It?
1:17:03 — How Useful Are Custom GPTs for Companies?
1:20:34 — Workflows vs AI Workforce
-------------
India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.
This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.
What is Neon Fund?
We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.
Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.
-------------
Check us out on:
Website: https://neon.fund/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/
Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShoww

Connect with Siddhartha on:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/
Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7
-------------
This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.

Send us Fan Mail

S3 E15 Phantom Cleaner - Part One

Who Shat On The Floor At My Wedding? And Other Crimes

Access Points and Kitchen Oddity

The AI-powered Podcast Player