First sign of being not afraid is creating "I am not afraid" blog posts.
Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
11–20 of 38 posts
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#12Is there any otherwise-vanilla SaaS out there that generates more controversy than Freshdesk (at least among the HN readership)?
Already on this article (8 comments posted as I write this) we have a FUD comment saying their post is "smug" and their customers should be worried, and then another talking about how you need to "be careful" about criticising the company because their employees victimised the commenter by "down voting them in groups".
Add to this the backdrop of ridiculous comments by Zendesk founder calling them a ripoff, and just the general FUD espoused by almost everyone whenever an Indian tech company is in the picture, and it's a bit sad.
We don't use Freshdesk, although we're considering moving from Zendesk to them due to some missing features, and I'm not Indian, but I really do think it's interesting how this company is just constantly and vaguely looked down upon by people who should know better.
FD seem to be scrappy, they're growing quickly, their product looks good, they give discounts to startups, and they just happen to be based in India - what's not to like?
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#13[deleted]
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#14Such kind of blog posts are best written a year or two, where you have evidence that Microsoft will not be able to kill your business. In fact, I hope it happens and wish you all the best that your business grows and thrives.
Otherwise, no one really cares whether you are afraid of Microsoft or not.
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#15In the face of certain despair, it's humorous that Freshdesk pulls off the "I'm so smug, come join us" pitch. If I was a Freshdesk customer, I'd be a little worried about the political pow-wow being played. It's quite clear that Freshdesk is looking to get acquired by Microsoft. One of the prerequisites is to smacktack the ol' Microsoft 'legacy' and then whistle dixie.
Also, watchout when you bad mouth them on HN, they use shady tactics to downvote comments written against them (I was a victim once; their employees downvoted me in groups). I don't trust this company nor their employees at all - In fact, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this blog post was posted by one of their employees and the blog post is just a glorified landing page. "We're not scared of Microsoft, s…
Fixed that for you:
"We're not 90s Microsoft, so signup right now"Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#16Is there any otherwise-vanilla SaaS out there that generates more controversy than Freshdesk (at least among the HN readership)? Already on this article (8 comments posted as I write this) we have a FUD comment saying their post is "smug" and their customers should be worried, and then another talking about how you need to "be careful" about criticising the company because their employees victimised the commenter by…
I didn't know much about how Freshdesk was founded, but this post is interesting: http://blog.freshdesk.com/the-freshdesk-story-how-a-simple-c...
From that HN thread:
> Whenever I read something like this I can't help but think "Here's a potential customer to whomever can get this right and at the right price". It seems like there's still a huge opening in this market for someone to come in and take all of ZenDesk and eSupport's customers.
> Do you really think so? It always struck me that there was 1001 support desk providers out there... is there really that much space? (cos if so it's going on my list of maybe projects :))
> There's always space for someone who does it better and/or cheaper than the competition.
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#17Is there any otherwise-vanilla SaaS out there that generates more controversy than Freshdesk (at least among the HN readership)? Already on this article (8 comments posted as I write this) we have a FUD comment saying their post is "smug" and their customers should be worried, and then another talking about how you need to "be careful" about criticising the company because their employees victimised the commenter by…
I read HN daily and this is my first encounter with Freshdesk.
>FD seem to be scrappy, they're growing quickly, their product looks good, they give discounts to startups, and they just happen to be based in India - what's not to like?
Regardless of the quality of their offering, I'm personally turned off by the David vs. Goliath click bait being my introduction to the company. Maybe that's unfair, but so it goes.
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#18The hubris in this post is on par with the classic tales of the Greek gods. Microsoft may not sink Freshdesk, but Freshdesk may sink Freshdesk.
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#19Is there any otherwise-vanilla SaaS out there that generates more controversy than Freshdesk (at least among the HN readership)? Already on this article (8 comments posted as I write this) we have a FUD comment saying their post is "smug" and their customers should be worried, and then another talking about how you need to "be careful" about criticising the company because their employees victimised the commenter by…
I read HN daily and this is my first encounter with Freshdesk. >FD seem to be scrappy, they're growing quickly, their product looks good, they give discounts to startups, and they just happen to be based in India - what's not to like? Regardless of the quality of their offering, I'm personally turned off by the David vs. Goliath click bait being my introduction to the company. Maybe that's unfair, but so it goes.
What was it they said about "when life gives you lemons..."?
While I agree on a personal level that the post crosses the line somewhat between scrappy startup chutzpah to user acquisition tactic, I still like the idea of Freshdesk using a negative news item to position itself more aggressively.
I also think that outside the hyper-attuned HN community, this post is going to be seen more positively.
Re: Why we are not afraid of Microsoft
#20I see now why the moderation on hn prefers titles that match the original article.