Generous to a fault — when selflessness had a name — Krish Subramanian #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain

I have been running communities of tech entrepreneurs for more than two decades and a lot of people have told me that I do a good job at that. Sorry, if that sounds boastful but as you know, community-building is my passion and there, I have found myself. People tell me, Avinash, you are the glue that keeps us together. While there is truth in that observation, it’s not always easy to keep the tribe together. However, community-building becomes super-easy when at other times, one has the support of selfless contributors who are generous to a fault.

If you look around, there aren’t too many people who help others without an agenda. Lest I am misunderstood, the idea is not to be disparaging or judgmental. I am okay with quid pro quo arrangements when value gets created in return for something, which is often intangible. It would be naïve to expect seasoned professionals who often work 80-hour weeks, to not expect something in return when they work feverishly in community-led initiatives. That’s why we have the pay-it-forward philosophy at SaaSBoomi — you give back when you can.

It comes as a breath of Himalayan fresh air when you come close to an individual who belies the “rule” and contributes most generously without really expecting anything in return. And not just once. Can you imagine a person supporting you for more than a decade? This is how very deep friendships have cemented in human existence.

I have the honour to call Krish Subramanian of Chargebee my friend, philosopher and guide. We go back very long — I think it was in the 2010 edition of NPC when I first met him and somehow, he had gotten to be a part of the organizing team. This team was lifting heavy, and it wasn’t easy to be a part of it without the mandated preamble. But thank God, that he seamlessly eased in!

A late entrant he may have been that year, but so invigorating was his contribution that he became one of the prominent contributors in the subsequent years.

Very early, he saw me for what I was — I loved being with people and wanting to make a difference through community-building. As I look back, almost a decade-and-a-half has gone by and he has steadfastly supported me in every organization that I have been a part of — NASSCOM, iSPIRT, Accel and SaaSBoomi. He is my 1 AM friend. I can pick up the phone and talk to him and get his perspective. He is a man with a very high IQ which is why he can see things in a flash that others may not.

I think I have earned the right to call myself his 3 AM friend that is because, after I have spoken to him for 2 hours, he can then call me back (yes at 3 AM) and unburden himself if he needs to about his challenges. Well, the clock can be a delusional object, but such long conversations have happened (not necessarily at 1 AM), where we have opened up to each other over many amazing hours.

He takes a lot of interest in people. “Hi, how are you” is a common enough greeting which comes instantaneously to most people. But he is a person who takes great interest in the answer and listens if the person isn’t doing so well. Many struggling entrepreneurs found suitable employment in his company, and he has been extremely generous in helping people whenever the need arose. Other times, he has invited entrepreneurs over so they can interact with his team and gather valuable insights. Never insecure about sharing knowledge and always generous to a fault. In turn, he has built an exemplary culture at Chargebee.

And, to reiterate — he helps people without expecting anything in return. Very very few human beings have that kind of generosity.

Above everything, Krish is a great coach. Once two of us were in a car with another leader and I had a conflict with the other gentleman regarding the way SaaSBoomi ought to function. Afterwards, Krish spent a lot of time coaching me in trying to resolve the conflict. He was incredibly patient and all along he would see my point of view while always sensitizing me about foreseeable harm.

There was yet another occasion when I was with Accel and had made a mistake in something. He patiently heard me out and even said that it was a big thing that I owned up to my mistake and that was really the first step forward. As a coach, he has gone from strength to greater strength in the last few years. In a LinkedIn post, he once wrote about making hindsight a friend and the extreme significance of an outside view. This is something that a coach can do and he was extremely thankful to having one which helped him steer through some of the difficult years. He says, it’s okay to not have all the answers — no one does — and a coach helps you see this from a perspective. An outside-in view.

I’ll pause.

Thank you Krish, it’s been a privilege to have you as a coach and a friend. I hope the world sees the likes of you more often because with people like you by my side it’s easier to make decisions that can really hurt sometimes. You bring in great clarity.

Here’s wishing you great success and happiness.