What you are labelling as "fake podcasts" is called branding.  
  
 There are multiple goals -  
 Branding for IPO-worthy 
 Branding for attracting talent 
 Branding for attracting investors 
 Branding for attracting customers 
  
 By definition branding activities are architected to sell the thing that is getting branded.  
  
 If you were in their shoes you'd have done it too.

So basically podcast should have “Ad” written in one of the corners to avoid confusion!

Sales Manager

Founder

Startup founders have started coming to podcasts or they themselves started podcasts just to be in limelight, talk all about positives and planning for IPOs. I have never seen these founders are as...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Startup founders have started coming to podcasts or they themselves started podcasts just to be in limelight, talk all about positives and planning for IPOs.
I have never seen these founders are asked about recent layoffs, removing benefits to employees or not making any profits at all.

“Ganda hai pr dhandha hai yeh”

Chuna lagao, chuna!

Fake Podcasts all over

Fake Podcasts all over- Grapevine

Silent Layoffs in Classplus

At its peak Classplus employed about 800 employees which is now down to about 300 but you'd never see this in news because they have been strategically laying off employees on high salaries one by one. Just today 4 people have been asked to leave (that I know of). They very smartly either shift people to textbook and then ask them to leave from there or directly ask them to leave. There's no PIP.
The founders are busy with setting up a new college, for some reason. Most of Classplus core business is just flat, people are asked to just maintain the business. It is losing big clients to competition. I don't know what the outlook of the company looks like but it's not looking good.

Silent Layoffs in Classplus.

Growth Manager

Every random founder is now a guru of some sort trying to monetise their content. I used to really look forward to stories from indian founders and their journeys. Hardly any founder is genuine.

We really need some podcasts like a16z, acquired, brand wars for real insights/stories. I can only think of think school which is doing podcasts/videos closer to the firangi ones.

Any podcast recommendations which you did not find faffy or global gyaani?

Too much faff and Global gyaan podcasts

Lot of founders and techies are jumping into this creator space, what might be their motivation to do this

Deepi in for podcasts

Associate Product Manager

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

1. True rise of podcasts

2. Regional language content taking over our feed.

3. Free AI tools helping to dub videos on native language. 

4. First Unicorn in this space

5. Rise of more and better gaming creators

6. People leaving Jobs to pursue this as full-time career

What are your predictions? 

Let’s discuss this in comments!

6 Creator Economy Predictions - 2024

Product Manager

𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀, 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱.

Investor

NextLevel, a failed product that did not work as expected has launched an absolute random Podcast Series. 

I think when founders lose their sense of direction, they start doing random experiments. 


Also, the lady in this post has been popular for burning company money in random projects at brands like Zomato, Wework and now doing the same thing at Graphy and Unacademy. I wonder how do such people even get hired.

Any comments ?

Launching Random Podcasts just to stay relevant.

Program Manager

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

He said “aap sab ko marana pdega”.. you guys have to work your ass off.

In one of the townhall at Koo, Co founder mayank bidawatka said “ham sab ko mrana pdega agr koo ko grow krna h” what’s your take on this statement?

Software Engineer

Most startup’s are not founded with great altruistic purpose to elevate human condition. Most startup’s are founded where founders know they can make money or earn status points through little schemes of leveraging their network of investors. 

Most of them know they can earn more income by just raising some money from friends or VCs. Build a small tech tool and burn through money trying to acquire and retain customers. All this while hiring 100s of employees selling false narratives. 

What bugs me the most isn’t the thousands of people getting laid off, salary corrections or bankruptcies, it is the mafiaesque organisation built to “create wealth for some by exploitation of countless others” 

Most startup founders use brute force of content and media coupled with ignorance of people to perpetuate this cycle. 

It’s the virtue signalling and holier than thou attitude of most founders and VCs justifying all their mindless brutality in the name of strategy and growth which destroys aspirations and outcomes for the many. It’s more relevant in India because of large scale ignorance about money and large scale trust on educated individuals with the right college tags! 

If you have seen sopranos, most founders are like Anthony soprano - summarily violent, manipulative and ruthless behaviour primarily driven by selfish greed but juxtaposed with moments of vulnerability and struggle justifying his action with a facade of providing for his family. 

*Replace Anthony soprano with your founder/ceo name* 


1. VSS was playing fast and lose with rbi regulations resulting in stock crash and layoffs 
2. Byju’s systematically destroyed his own company and wealth of his employees just to ensure he retains majority control 
3. Ashneer G and his wife manipulated company books
4. Zerodha founders cheated in chess match or lied about their system failures which lost a lot of capital

PS: I refer to most founders because there are few exceptions who don’t fit into this narrative.

Startup founders are mafia bosses!

Incredibly myopic and pessimistic view. I'd suggest trying to be a founder yourself once before judging them. 
  
 Not every startup needs to elevate human condition, plus you still need money to make that happen. 
  
 Most founders don't actually earn much compared to jobs they could've had in companies. All you see is the flashy idiots like Kunal Shah and Byju. Not the bootstrapper shutting down their 10th project for xyz reasons. Because no one likes talking about their failures, and no one listens to people who fail. Only those who succeed.  
  
 You have a problem with the human condition buddy, not founders. Humans can be real shitty given the right kind of conditions. Everyone's fallible, even you.  
  
 If you think you can be a better founder than some of the names you mentioned, then you're only indulging in holier than thou behaviour, which you allegedly hate about founders.  
  
 I do agree with some of the things you said, but much of it is way off.

Generalist

Consultant

I had heard Waycool was also talking to raise at unicorn valuation, but they've fired like 300 people on Monday, so that's pretty uncertain. What to make of Zepto, though?

India's 109th unicorn?

Data Scientist

Recently, the founder of Apna appeared on Rajshamani's podcast, boasting about his entrepreneurial journey and the success of his startup. However, his portrayal of Apna as a revolutionary product is misleading. 

https://themorningcontext.com/internet/all-is-not-well-at-apna

Here's a brutal takedown of him
https://x.com/ravihanda/status/1730453950485401872

Despite his claims, the company is currently laying off employees, experiencing stagnant revenue growth, and facing significant financial losses. 

The founder, who has spent most of his life in the US, now presents himself as a champion for Bharat (India), but the reality is starkly different from the image he tries to project. 

His attempts to appear as if he has everything figured out contrast sharply with the company's troubling financial situation and operational challenges.

The podcast feels fully paid but is not revealed which is illegal.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq-Ajgs2oec&t=1s&ab_channel=RajShamani

These paid podcasts need to stop

Startup founders who are trying to turn influencers are always trying to paint themselves as champions and superbeings while the real truth about being a Founder is that one always feels vulnerable. Is this behaviour by startup founders leading to TOXIC POSITIVITY?

Is narcissism and hallucinations a common trait among startup founders in India?

I came across many founders on LinkedIn who have added building Stealth startups in their bio/ description.

Why are many founders building Stealth startups?

Of late, with Koo shutting down, Unacademy in the rafters, I've seen really intelligent, logical folks stand behind the founders of such moronic companies. Is the act of building shit, money burning companies with no use , more important than not building something in today's time?

Why do we lose common sense when it comes to successful founders?

I've been seeing entrepreneurs' podcast snippets on Instagram for the past few weeks. The never-ending gyaan won't end.

Some examples like Classplus , wow skincare, that Razor 🪒 

That too speaking alone from a weird camera angle.

Kitna hi gyaan baat doge yaar. Kaha se ata hai itna gyaan.  Somehow company bhii profitable nahi hai tumhari.


I am not sure if someone else had felt the same.

P.s : not a hate post.

Unlimited Gyaan. 🎙️

I am Thankful to the funding winter it has revealed true colors of so called Founders, who would not stop talking about culture, Growth,  scale etc on Twitter and LinkedIn

Take Byjus, for instance, they claim to be revolutionizing education, it's all a facade! All they care about is squeezing every penny out of parents' pockets. Putting large amount of people in debts they didn’t even signup for. 

And let's talk about Dukaan, shall we? The absolute 🤡 of a founder with zero empathy( 90% staff laidoff and the guts to project it as some AI ML innovation)


These startup founders have lost touch with reality. They've become obsessed with valuation and funding rounds, completely forgetting the essence of why they started in the first place. It's all about becoming the next "unicorn" and impressing investors, while the customers and sellers are left in the dust.

Gone are the days of genuine innovation and passion for solving real-world problems. It's all about the money now, and they don't care who gets hurt along the way. The startup ecosystem has become a rat race, with everyone trying to outdo each other and sacrificing ethics and integrity in the process.

It's sad to see the true colors of these startup founders shining through, and it's high time we demand more transparency, accountability, and genuine value from these so-called "disruptors." Enough with the facade,

At the end all these founders will get an exit with generational wealth, the employee and people who have built it will be left in Dust. 

My laanat to all such founders and company. May the boat sink and hopefully someday we have accountability in place for these people.

Rant on Indian Startup

Business Development Manager

I started hating his podcast after Razorpreneur, it was more like ameero ka Vivek bindra lol

Downfall of Barbershop with Shantanu?

Girish Mathrabootham of Freshworks run Together Fund.
Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl run Titan Capital
Many Series A founders are spending time angel investing than focussing on their companies. Have they lost interest in their startup or given up?

Fake Podcasts all over

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