The stories of entrepreneurial success around us are often slick, bulleted, and cleaned up to remove all references to false starts, serendipity or accidents. And at the centre of such stories are founders.

These visionary leaders dream up startups worth billions of dollars out of nothing, like Krish Subramanian, the co-founder and CEO of Chargebee.

Chargebee started by helping businesses manage their paying subscribers and now operates in the broader revenue management market. This Indian company was last valued at over $3.5 billion.

Krish’s own path to success, though, was anything but formulaic.

He graduated in 2001, as the dot-com boom was cratering and when the 9/11 attacks on America spooked the world.

Krish couldn’t find a job. Six months later, when he finally did, his first salary was Rs 3500. It would be another ten years before he finally got together with his co-founders and started Chargebee.

And even then, they spent the first five years going around in circles before finally hitting their groove.

In today’s episode, he reflects and explains the meandering path he took to success and the lessons he learned along the way.

Krish talks about learning to let go of the need for world-changing ideas, hiring for strengths, why someone great for a zero-to-one project may be terrible for a one-to-10 project, why early-stage founders must set constraints and say ‘no’ instead of ‘challenge accepted!’, and treating business as a game.

He also shares what he believes is the most critical role for a CEO: Trusting others, getting out of the way and letting go or, in Krish’s own words, continuously firing yourself.

Full Episode Transcript:

05:38 – What is Chargebee

Rohin Dharmakumar  

Thank you, Krish, for coming on the show. I’ll begin with a blunt question. In one line, what is Chargebee?

Krish Subramanian  

Thanks for having me on the show.

Rohin Dharmakumar  

It’s been a while like, I think, what, six months since I first reached out to you? Is it more than that?

Krish Subramanian  

No, probably less than six months.

Rohin Dharmakumar

But anyway, sorry, I interrupted you. 

Krish Subramanian  

Yeah. Chargebee is in revenue growth management for subscription businesses. That’s our new tagline, by the way.

Rohin Dharmakumar  

Sorry, that’s a mouthful, could you repeat that?

Krish Subramanian  

Chargebee is a revenue growth management platform for subscription businesses.

Rohin Dharmakumar  

Revenue growth management platform for subscription businesses. 

I’ll start with the part which I know: subscription businesses.