Asana vs Zoho: Founders, CEOs and History
Asana was founded in 2008 by Dustin Moskovitz, Justin Rosenstein and is led by Dan Rogers. Zoho was founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas and is led by Shailesh Kumar Davey.
Company facts
Founders
Asana
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz is a US entrepreneur, a co-founder of Facebook, and the co-founder of Asana, which he ran as chief executive officer from 2008 until July 2025.
Justin Rosenstein
Justin Rosenstein is a US software engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Asana with Dustin Moskovitz.
Zoho
Sridhar Vembu
Sridhar Vembu co-founded AdventNet in 1996 and led the company, renamed Zoho Corporation in 2009, as CEO until January 2025. He kept the company free of venture capital and promoted hiring and training in smaller towns, working from rural Tamil Nadu.
Tony Thomas
Tony Thomas co-founded AdventNet in 1996 and has remained with the company since. He leads Zoho's US business as CEO of Zoho US. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
CEOs and their tenures
Asana
- Dustin Moskovitz2008–2025
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Ran Asana for its first 17 years, from incorporation in December 2008 to a platform with more than 180,000 paying customers, and retains a majority of the company's voting power through its dual-class structure.
Source - Dan Rogers2025–present
Chief Executive Officer
Second chief executive in Asana's history, brought in to restart growth by rebuilding the platform around AI agents while holding the margin gains that produced non-GAAP operating income of $56.7 million in fiscal 2026.
Source
Zoho
- Sridhar Vembu1996–2025
Co-founder; CEO 1996-2025, now Chief Scientist
Led the company from its founding as AdventNet until January 2025 and kept it free of outside capital; now focuses on research and AI.
Source - Tony Thomas1996–present
Co-founder and CEO, Zoho US
Co-founded AdventNet and leads Zoho's US business.
Source - Shailesh Kumar Davey2025–present
Co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer
Co-founder who previously led engineering at ManageEngine; became group CEO in January 2025.
Source - Rajesh Ganesan2025–present
CEO, ManageEngine
Leads the ManageEngine IT management division.
Source - Mani Vembu2025–present
CEO, Zoho.com
Leads the Zoho.com business applications division.
Source
Timeline: Asana and Zoho side by side
1996Zoho
AdventNet founded
Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas start a network management software company.
2005Zoho
First Zoho Products Released
AdventNet released Zoho Writer, its first online office application, in 2005, followed by Zoho CRM.
2008Asana
Asana incorporated in Delaware: Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein left Facebook and incorporated the company in Delaware on December 16, 2008, initially as Smiley Abstractions, Inc., renamed Asan…
2009Asana
$9 million Series A from Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz: Asana raised a $9 million Series A round in November 2009 led by Benchmark, with Andreessen Horowitz participating and Benchmark's Matt Cohl…
2009Zoho
Renamed Zoho Corporation
The company takes the name of its online applications brand.
2011Asana
Product opens to the public for free: After about three years of building a custom web framework called Luna and the Work Graph data model behind it, Asana opened its platform to the public at no char…
2012Asana
Paid plans and a public API: Asana began charging for the platform in April 2012 and released its API to third-party developers the same month, with Twitter and LinkedIn among the early companies runn…
2012Asana
$28 million raised to expand the team: Asana raised $28 million in July 2012 to build out engineering, support and sales as paid usage started to grow.
2016Asana
$50 million Series C led by Sam Altman: Asana raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Sam Altman, then president of Y Combinator, at a valuation of about $600 million.
2017Zoho
Zoho One Launched
Zoho launched Zoho One, a single subscription covering its business applications, in July 2017.
2018Asana
Portfolios and the Asana Business tier: Asana launched Portfolios alongside a new Business plan in November 2018, giving executives a single view of progress and resourcing across many projects and pu…
2018Asana
$125 million raised at a $1.5 billion valuation: Asana raised $75 million in Series D funding led by Generation Investment Management and a further $50 million in November 2018 that valued the company…
2019Asana
Workload capacity planning ships: Asana released Workload in August 2019, letting managers see how individual team members were staffed across projects and rebalance assignments without leaving the pl…
2020Asana
Asana Goals links execution to strategy: Asana released Goals on July 15, 2020, a goal-tracking layer that connects company objectives to the projects and tasks underneath them so progress updates aut…
2020Asana
Direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange: Asana went public on September 30, 2020 through a direct listing rather than an IPO.
2022Asana
Workforce cut by 9%: In November 2022 Asana cut about 9% of its global workforce in a restructuring aimed at operating costs after two years of rapid hiring during the remote-work boom.
2023Asana
Asana Intelligence brings generative AI into the Work Graph: Asana announced its first generative AI features in June 2023 and packaged them as Asana Intelligence on October 3, 2023, covering smart st…
2024Asana
AI Studio opens agent building to non-developers: Asana launched AI Studio in October 2024, a no-code builder that lets teams embed AI agents in a workflow and deploy them inside Asana.
2025Asana
Dan Rogers succeeds Dustin Moskovitz as chief executive: Moskovitz announced his retirement as chief executive in March 2025.
2025Zoho
CEO transition
Shailesh Kumar Davey becomes group CEO in January; Sridhar Vembu becomes chief scientist.
2025Zoho
Semiconductor fab plan shelved
Zoho suspends its planned $700 million compound semiconductor fab in May.
2025Zoho
Rajesh Ganesan becomes CEO
Rajesh Ganesan became CEO of Zoho in 2025. Leads the ManageEngine IT management division.
2026Asana
StackAI acquired for $75 million: Asana completed its acquisition of StackAI, a no-code AI workflow platform, on May 28, 2026 for $75 million.
2026Asana
Repositioned as an operating system for human-agent teams: At its Work Innovation Summit in June 2026 Asana unveiled a product suite built so employees and AI agents work from the same plan, context a…
2026Asana
Dan Rogers named board chair: Effective September 25, 2026 Rogers added board chair to the chief executive role, Dustin Moskovitz moved to director, and Jerry Ting and Tom Berquist joined the board.
2026Zoho
UAE data centres open
Zoho opens data centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in January as part of an ~$27.2 million (AED 100 million) UAE investment.
2026Zoho
FY25 results filed
RoC filings show FY25 revenue of ~$1.43 billion (₹12,313 crore) and net profit of ~$370 million (₹3,191 crore).
Acquisitions
Zoho
- ASIMOV Robotics2025Undisclosed
- Yali Aerospace (strategic deep-tech investment)2024$3.6M
- ePoise Systems2019Undisclosed
Questions about Asana vs Zoho
Who is the CEO of Asana, Inc. and Zoho?
Asana, Inc. is led by Dan Rogers and Zoho is led by Shailesh Kumar Davey. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Asana, Inc. founded vs Zoho?
Zoho was founded in 1996 — 12 years before Asana, Inc., which was founded in 2008. Zoho's longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Asana, Inc..
How many employees does Asana, Inc. have compared to Zoho?
Asana, Inc. employs approximately 1,767 people, while Zoho employs approximately 19,000. Zoho has the larger workforce at 19,000 employees, compared to Asana, Inc.'s 1,767. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Asana, Inc. and Zoho headquartered?
Asana, Inc. is headquartered in United States and Zoho is headquartered in India. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Asana, Inc. and Zoho?
Asana, Inc. was founded by Dustin Moskovitz, Justin Rosenstein. Zoho was founded by Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas.
Which company has a longer operating history — Asana, Inc. or Zoho?
Zoho has been operating for approximately 30 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Asana, Inc. has been in operation for around 18 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Asana vs Zoho overview