Story of Zoho: Sridhar Vembu’s Quiet Tech Revolution

Sridhar Vembu’s journey is unlike any Valley founder’s story. Starting with AdventNet and bootstrapping Zoho from scratch, he rewrote the rules by rejecting VC and focusing on profitability, all while growing a SaaS powerhouse from the rural villages of Tamil Nadu.

Insiders describe the radical idea to source and train non-college talent, a move that transformed both careers and communities, with Zoho Schools now feeding fresh minds directly into high-impact tech roles.

Culture runs deep: Vembu cycles between offices and village campuses, debating ethics and humility, reviewing code, and organizing daily operations with a dose of frugality.

Behind global expansion, product pivots, and ManageEngine spin-offs lies the secret sauce, an internal ecosystem where rural talent, flat hierarchy, and intense local focus deliver what urban competitors can only dream of.