Indian Startup ecosystem should change its name to?

Get me a Product Management Intern !!!! Is Getting Jobs from LinkedIn Opportunities just a myth ??

I might sound stupid here but please hear me out. The market is crowded with so many startups in every domain. Older startups are much more stable, on track to become profitable or are already profitable with a huge market share. Not to forget the legacy companies with deep pockets and years of R&D and experience. Along with the competition, funding is another major pain point now because of various reasons we all know of. Also, somewhere I feel we don't face a lot of burning problems we faced a few years back which gave birth to a lot of startups who were actually solving some problem. Most of the new age startups out there are not really solving any problem but just offering premium products or services targeting just the high earning individuals. Most of the new ideas are repetitive with no major differentiation or value add. Because of all these reasons, I feel we might see very few new startups in future let alone successful ones. Share your thoughts please!

Remember the time when we were surrounded by 5-6 startups making waves every day? They were the talk of the town, with incredible growth, innovative offerings, massive hirings, and funding galore. We couldn't stop discussing their latest feats! But lately, it feels like a different era, with a cloud of negativity casting a shadow. Dear Indian startup ecosystem, you have a history of miracles and game-changing moments. We believe in your potential to inspire, innovate, and motivate the youth. Let's bring back that magic and remind everyone why we're at the forefront of global innovation. 🇮🇳💡 It's time for something great, something remarkable. Let's reignite the spark and make headlines for all the right reasons!

Yep, this is the exact headline that should have been put out for Meesho's raise. VCs will literally do anything to help a startup IPO and then throw the retail investors under the bus.

Getting pretty annoyed with Byju's being reffered to as an edtech startup in 2023. Byju's started in 2011, more than a decade ago. Stop calling it a start up 😑 What are your thoughts on this?

I have evaluated a lot of startups as part of my work. My approach has changed from being optimistic to being suspicious of a lot of founders, even before the process starts. The sheer number of founders that I come across that try to game metrics/play around with data to make the startup look good. Most commonly: 1) Completely changing the definition of margins, repeat rates, etc. and never clarifying that they are using different definition. 2) Often giving rebates/discounts to key stakeholders but finding ways to hide it from their P&L so that it’s not visible. THIS IS SO COMMON - lot’s of them start showing revenues, and then you will see another cost item rising at the same pace, and lot’s of times it will just be money moving around 3) Sometimes completely giving the wrong picture of how their product works on ground. You then speak with their customers, and they describe something completely else. Things like these are eating up the ecosystem. These founders also end up fooling some VCs, and then capital get’s kept away from actually good founders who have good intentions. There was a recent major investment in the commerce space, and that is another one such example of a startup doing this. Needs to stop.

I look forward to moving out of my current organisation hence posting for support from this community. I would prefer joining startup, which has good culture.

Came across this post on X recently, the point sounds valid in my opinion but wanted to know from the community cuz I recently took a decision between a unicorn b2c start-u which is super popular vs a b2b SaaS startup which is known among the tech community. Post link: https://twitter.com/amuldotexe/status/1738243872231428484?t=V2-6pMSYCvl7L-w_f8IggQ&s=19

Hello everyone, I'm Varun, the co-founder of Mesa School of Business. We’re Asia’s first startup focused business school focused on fostering the next generation of startup leaders in India. Prior to Mesa, I was a Sr. Product Manager at Amazon in Seattle, and did my MBA from Kellogg School of Management. I'd love to chat with you folks about my journey in building Mesa, my thoughts on higher education, 0-to-1 building, amongst other things. Ask me anything! :) I'll be back at 5 pm and start answering.