It’s a blessing to not be on that financial treadmill: Sridhar Vembu
Sridhar Vembu reflects on building talent from the ground up, the myths about Gen Z, the virtues of contentment and humility, how he works with family, what India needs to create world-class products, why we should look beyond Silicon Valley for models, and the relief of staying off the quarterly numbers treadmill.
Creating talent, not hunting for it
Vembu believes that the most urgent hiring challenge—finding experienced people—can be solved by producing them. Zoho Schools embodies that philosophy. Around a fifth of Zoho’s workforce now comes from this program, which skips the traditional degree path and focuses on intensive, real-world training across the technologies the company uses every day.
Because the training runs inside the company’s ecosystem, students see firsthand what’s possible. That proximity fuels ambition: if they excel, they can join teams shipping products and having fun doing it. In Vembu’s own group, roughly 30 Zoho Schools graduates contribute daily; the team’s median age is just about 20, and he says their energy pushes him to stay sharp.
His advice to incoming batches is direct: learn from those just ahead of you. Talk to seniors and interns, study what they’re building, and use that knowledge to arrive prepared when it’s your turn to join product teams.
On Gen Z and work ethic
The idea that today’s youth lack discipline, he says, is timeless. Every generation has heard it. In reality, each cohort includes both strivers and drifters. It’s never universally true that “the youth” don’t work hard; it’s a mix, as it has always been.
Contentment, humility, and the temptation to cash out
Asked whether he’s been tempted to sell his stake for a big payday, Vembu returns to two core virtues deeply rooted in his philosophical outlook: contentment and humility. Humility is not just moral; it’s scientific. A curious mind admits it doesn’t know, asks why, and searches—this is the engine of discovery and engineering.
Contentment, meanwhile, recognizes that desire has no natural stopping point. On a finite planet with finite resources, endless appetite collides with physical limits. Contentment aligns personal well-being with long-term human welfare. If you’re constantly comparing and craving, peace is elusive; contentment quiets that noise.
Working with family
Vembu and his brother Mani, who leads the business side, mostly meet at the office. Their conversations and debates focus on technology and products, not family dynamics. In their partnership, Mani tends to be bolder, while Vembu says he’s comparatively more cautious.
What India needs to build world-class products
For Vembu, the starting point isn’t funding or policy; it’s mindset. Self-belief and the will to attempt ambitious things come first. Infrastructure and capital matter, but they follow intent. Too often, teams talk themselves out of difficult goals. The shift begins when you decide it can be done—and commit. Zoho’s journey, he says, is evidence that it’s possible.
Looking beyond Silicon Valley
India’s startup scene often borrows wholesale from the Silicon Valley playbook. Vembu suggests widening the lens: study Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and other alternative paths. Even within the United States, attempts to recreate Silicon Valley in other cities have fallen short of replicating its particular ecosystem. Models should be adapted to local realities rather than cloned.
Why founders step back—and why he stepped off
Many founders working under venture or public-market pressure burn out. The constant treadmill—hitting quarterly targets, navigating investor expectations, and the subtle games of smoothing results—exacts a toll. It’s not limited to tech; even large-company CEOs are staying in the job for shorter periods, often choosing to move on after a handful of years.
In that environment, leadership attrition is understandable. The system demands unrelenting performance and incentivizes short-term optimization. Vembu is forthright about avoiding that path: Zoho chose to sidestep the treadmill entirely. Without the drumbeat of quarterly targets, he says, they’ve had the freedom to think long-term, to invest in people and products at their own pace, and to remain grounded in the values that matter to them. To him, that freedom is a blessing.
The quiet power of a different path
Threaded through Vembu’s philosophy is a consistent pattern: build capability rather than chase credentials; judge people as individuals rather than by generational caricatures; choose contentment over endless escalation; work closely with those you trust; bet on your own belief before anything else; learn from many models, not just the loudest one; and, where possible, step off the financial treadmill so you can build what lasts.
It’s a contrarian yet coherent approach—one that emphasizes patience, humility, and determination. For Zoho, it has meant creating a talent pipeline, cultivating a product culture, and maintaining operational freedom. For founders and builders, the larger lesson is clear: decide what game you want to play, because the rules you choose will shape your company—and your life.
