> When everyone in the Valley was signing 10 year leases at $10 per square foot – a bubble indicator that we’re seeing again today – the company relocated to Pleasanton, where it remains today, and instead invested in keeping its headcount up.

> “We don’t really agree that a short-term, mercenary mindset and incentive structure is required to hire the best talent,” Vegesna says. “We issue cash bonuses at the end of a good period, whether it’s a month, quarter, or year. It actually ends up being a better outcome for most employees. And, of course, we have free lunch and all the other typical perks. We have had extremely low employee churn...”

Something not mentioned in the article: according to Wikipedia[1], 90% of Zoho's employees are based in India. While I'm sure that some in the Bay Area will scoff at this, I don't think there's any question that when the business cycle turns, the ridiculously high costs of employee salaries and office space will be the undoing of countless Bay Area startups.

It's nice to read stories every once in a while about companies living within their means. Ironically, they're usually the ones that could actually afford to live large if they wanted to.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoho_Corporation