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Every startup has faces behind it. A story behind it. Zoho feels like it's hiding something. People like to see the faces of the startups they sign up for. You

Every startup has faces behind it. A story behind it. Zoho feels like it's hiding something. People like to see the faces of the startups they sign up for. You can't just wear a mask over your face and reach out your hand and say give me money, sign up for my service. Who are you? Where are you? What's your story. That information is important for a business relationship. What kind of leader hides? It's like a man who won't shake hands or tell you his last name. It's just strange. Do they think people are going to avoid Zoho because it's Indian? Facebook, Google, Craigslist, & a bunch of others were started by Jewish founders and you know how people have and continue to feel about Jews. Their ethnicity didn't impact them negatively. Hell, Americans are paranoid about the Chinese and yet still we buy Made in China products. Zoho should be proud. It came from India, it's privately held, profitable, and hasn't taken venture capital or bank loans. I'd put my name all over that If I were the founder. That's an amazing feat.

sridharvembu 13y ago
Our people are prominently mentioned in our press releases. We respond on our forums, on twitter, on forums like this. The reason for the lack of a "management team" page is that we don't the org chart typical companies do. First, there are geographic divisions - India/US/China/Japan where we have offices which run fairly autonomously, and second there are product divisions, which also run fairly autonomously. A private company can operate this way (with a fair degree of autonomy in teams) that a public company cannot. I have made presentations on the history of the company before. Here is a public document on this: https://docs.zoho.com/show/published.do?rid=s0uyx6d6a7e9c859c420f8666ec057db3a922 https://docs.zoho.com/show/published.do?rid=s0uyx6d6a7e9c859... It isn't like we are famous or anything ;) which was why we don't go around touting it!
- clicks 13y ago
  > The reason for the lack of a "management team" page is that we don't the org chart typical companies do. Would you say Zoho abides by open allocation for its workers? [1] I'd love to hear more about the organizational structure of the company. [1]: http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/11/26/what-is-open-allocation/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/11/26/what-is-open-al...
  - sridharvembu 13y ago
    We believe in fair degree of autonomy and tight-knit teams. I won't call it "open allocation" because we encourage people to stick to a particular work for a reasonable period to really excel at it (experience being the best teacher), but people do have the ability to transfer to other teams, or even across functional boundaries (engineering to marketing etc). The goal is to maximize mutual chemistry and cohesion, maximize autonomy. Our attrition rate tends to be very low, in spite of (or perhaps because of) there being no "golden handcuff".
deleted 13y ago
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rpgmaker 13y ago
Seeing the picture of the CEO or management team hardly tells you anything worthwhile. Specially on his company's website. That you couldn't find the CEO on the website hardly means they're hiding anything, a simple google search would've told you anything you wanted to know.
tensor 13y ago
Yes, people will avoid you based on your race. People will marginalize you if you are not tall, or your voice is squeaky. This isn't just anecdote, it's been studied time and time again. [1] Jewish people are well known for being shrewd in business, for example, and often claimed to be unfairly favoured. That you would use them for an example is ironic. You should judge on merit, not the "story" behind it nor because the founders don't exhibit your idea of social "normal." Exploiting people with your attitude is a huge part of what is wrong with society today. [1] http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/companies/tall_book_arianne_cohen_interview.fortune&#x2F http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/companies/tall_book_ari...; http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1987.60.3.843 http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1987.60.3.843 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10052978/Deep-voiced-chief-executives-are-more-successful-scientists-say.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10052978/Deep-voiced-chie...
- ChrisNorstrom 13y ago
  Good point. So you know how there are Ghost Writers? Would be a good idea to use a Ghost CEO? Someone tall and masculine with a deep voice that just sort of pretends to be CEO while the real one pretends to be his assistant but really runs the show? In all seriousness I think such a strategy would work out quite well.

sridharvembu 13y ago

Our people are prominently mentioned in our press releases. We respond on our forums, on twitter, on forums like this. The reason for the lack of a "management team" page is that we don't the org chart typical companies do. First, there are geographic divisions - India/US/China/Japan where we have offices which run fairly autonomously, and second there are product divisions, which also run fairly autonomously. A private company can operate this way (with a fair degree of autonomy in teams) that a public company cannot. I have made presentations on the history of the company before. Here is a public document on this: https://docs.zoho.com/show/published.do?rid=s0uyx6d6a7e9c859c420f8666ec057db3a922 https://docs.zoho.com/show/published.do?rid=s0uyx6d6a7e9c859... It isn't like we are famous or anything ;) which was why we don't go around touting it!

clicks 13y ago
> The reason for the lack of a "management team" page is that we don't the org chart typical companies do. Would you say Zoho abides by open allocation for its workers? [1] I'd love to hear more about the organizational structure of the company. [1]: http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/11/26/what-is-open-allocation/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/11/26/what-is-open-al...
- sridharvembu 13y ago
  We believe in fair degree of autonomy and tight-knit teams. I won't call it "open allocation" because we encourage people to stick to a particular work for a reasonable period to really excel at it (experience being the best teacher), but people do have the ability to transfer to other teams, or even across functional boundaries (engineering to marketing etc). The goal is to maximize mutual chemistry and cohesion, maximize autonomy. Our attrition rate tends to be very low, in spite of (or perhaps because of) there being no "golden handcuff".

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

rpgmaker 13y ago

Seeing the picture of the CEO or management team hardly tells you anything worthwhile. Specially on his company's website. That you couldn't find the CEO on the website hardly means they're hiding anything, a simple google search would've told you anything you wanted to know.

tensor 13y ago

Yes, people will avoid you based on your race. People will marginalize you if you are not tall, or your voice is squeaky. This isn't just anecdote, it's been studied time and time again. [1] Jewish people are well known for being shrewd in business, for example, and often claimed to be unfairly favoured. That you would use them for an example is ironic. You should judge on merit, not the "story" behind it nor because the founders don't exhibit your idea of social "normal." Exploiting people with your attitude is a huge part of what is wrong with society today. [1] http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/companies/tall_book_arianne_cohen_interview.fortune&#x2F http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/companies/tall_book_ari...; http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1987.60.3.843 http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1987.60.3.843 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10052978/Deep-voiced-chief-executives-are-more-successful-scientists-say.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10052978/Deep-voiced-chie...

ChrisNorstrom 13y ago
Good point. So you know how there are Ghost Writers? Would be a good idea to use a Ghost CEO? Someone tall and masculine with a deep voice that just sort of pretends to be CEO while the real one pretends to be his assistant but really runs the show? In all seriousness I think such a strategy would work out quite well.