Mani Vembu

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@MVhandle

Joined November 2023

77 Following 2.7K Followers 174 Posts

Latest posts 5

A product is not validated when we launch it. It is validated when customers choose to use it to run their growing businesses.

Finding product-market fit is the real challenge for every product, regardless of who builds or launches it. We are happy to see Zoho POS gaining traction early in its journey.

Thank you Asha Sweets and all our customers for trusting us. Wishing everyone a happy Deepavali.

Sridhar Vembu Verified account @svembu 4d

Deepavali has come early to Zoho POS!

The first customer for any new product is special. When that customer is a sweet shop, it is even more special

We launched Zoho POS for Restaurants at Zoholics India, and Asha Sweets of Kolkata is our first customer. They started using it right during the busiest time of the year.

Our team visited the shop to see how they were using the product during the festive rush. It was exciting to see the product being used in a real business.

I want to wish all our customers, business owners and everyone celebrating a very happy and joyful Deepavali

As a Deepavali gift to small businesses, Zoho POS for Restaurants is completely free for outlets with annual billing below ₹12 lakhs.

Mukh mishti korun!

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Mani Vembu @MVhandle Oct 30

The reality of a product business is that talent gets utilised well when there is product-market fit.

When that is missing, even talented people end up playing musical chairs, moving from one priority to another.

Talent gets real visibility when the product finds its market. Therefore, the focus should be on finding a market where there is demand for the product. That is how you get the best out of your talent.

Mani Vembu @MVhandle Oct 21

This reminds me of an interview in 2007, when @svembu was asked whether Zoho could compete with Microsoft and Google.

Interesting to look back at it today. Watch till the end to hear the prediction made in 2007. Thanks @rajonthemove for preserving this video.

9:10

Sahil Kumar @sahil_kr_ Oct 20

Microsoft vs Zoho vs Google who do you support?

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Mani Vembu @MVhandle Oct 16

The opportunity depends on what we see. Are we looking at the number of job openings that exist now, or the actual market opportunity that exists? Every global vendor enters India not to create job. They enter to capture the market.

The reason Starlink is fighting to get into India is simple. India could be the world's last high growth, high scale consumer market opportunity for them. When talent returns & starts building for India market, capital will follow because capital always chases the market opportunity.

Vineeth K Verified account @DealsDhamaka Oct 13

Don’t get me wrong. I have deep respect for Zoho and Sridhar Vembu sir for what they have built. Zoho is a poster child for Indian software companies, proving that we can build global businesses from India.

Over the last few months, Sridhar sir has been asking NRIs to return to India and build here. I love that sentiment. We need more people to come back, build companies and create jobs in India.

But today’s message from Zoho raises an important question.

If Zoho itself has been struggling with the business outlook for 18 months, hasn’t increased headcount, and is unable to offer regular salary hikes, how easy is it going to be for returning NRIs to find opportunities and build here?

Patriotism can inspire people to return, but it cannot replace a strong business environment, access to capital, customers and sustainable job opportunities.

We need people to return and build in India. But we also need to create an ecosystem where they can actually succeed.

Bringing talent back is one part of the story. Creating opportunities for that talent is the other. This was my exact response to Sridhar’s post in the past as well
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Mani Vembu @MVhandle Oct 15

Sridhar has shared the difficult decision we have taken to skip appraisals this year, given the rising costs and uncertain outlook for the software industry. Every software business will be having this discussion and making difficult choices.

These are real-world situations where there is no single right answer. The decision depends on what we choose to prioritise. These are also decisions AI cannot make for us.

During COVID, we made a similar decision. We offered free licences to customers, even though it meant losing revenue. This time, we had to deal with the sharp increase in server costs. We discussed these options internally.

Lay off employees. While layoffs are common across businesses, we felt it wasn't the right choice when our business is still growing. We have over a million customers to support and products to keep improving. Cutting jobs could affect both employees & customers. Instead, we want to reduce costs by focusing on R&D to make our products and infrastructure more efficient.

Reduce other expenses. We have decided to cut our marketing spend and are looking at ways to improve efficiency across the business.

Increase prices. Customers are already dealing with rising costs and geopolitical uncertainty. So we don't want to add to their burden. We want to first do what is in our control before doing this.

Skip appraisal. This was a difficult decision, but we wanted to avoid layoffs and price increases. So we made this tough decision.

As a private company, we have to take care of our customers and employees. Publicly listed companies also have shareholder expectations to consider.

There is no one right decision in these situations. Ultimately, it comes down to what we choose to prioritise and how we balance the needs of our customers, employees and business for the long term.

Sridhar Vembu Verified account @svembu Oct 12

The business outlook for software is uncertain and AI has raised costs dramatically with a) massive 4-fold increase in server prices which we need for data centers b) AI usage increasing rapidly, leading to much higher expenses, which we are trying to control.

On top of that is the challenging geopolitical backdrop.

We have cut down on our marketing budget. We have also told our employees that we cannot have our usual pay increase this year. I have apolgized for not being able to avoid this.

We will work hard to avoid mass layoffs but the outlook for software jobs in general is grim. We have not been growing our employee count for 18 months now.

Most of our employees understand the situation. I am thankful to them.

We are in the middle of reinventing ourselves. The next 3-5 years will decide how our reinvention has worked. Please pray for us 🙏
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