Look man there's so much stuff on YouTube on the YC channel from back in the day. Paul G, peter Thiel's, all these guys taking hour long lectures with actual practical advice. These videos don't have more than 15k views because people want to watch short content that makes them feel productive or brush their insecurity of not being in these fields. I don't blame as most are just curious and not even aware. The problem more than social is like you said algorithmic. You'll have to look specifically for such lectures as you won't discover them organically.

Very well said. There is a video from Sam on YouTube with very less views. I think the video is 4-5 years old

Software Engineer

Founder

Analyst

But again I do respect these creators because even putting yourself on the internet with new videos regularly is difficult. So don't hate the player hate the game

Every one is giving  gyan on start ups, product managers, entrepreneurship, venture capital etc but do these really help make a difference? Or just content and marketing strategies to engage with t...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Every one is giving  gyan on start ups, product managers, entrepreneurship, venture capital etc but do these really help make a difference? Or just content and marketing strategies to engage with the audience?

No genuinity in these posts

Fake reach

Customer Success

Fake reach- Grapevine

Why was he not working during the operation? Such a disappointment. You create culture on death bed too.

Investor

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

[Thread] You get massive seed funding: What do you don’t do?

Product Manager

Something I've found very frustrating while pitching to investors, platforms and funds is that so many of them actually just bait and switch.

They pose like gyani people earnestly looking for investments or helping entrepreneurs, but when you speak to them they start selling you their services.

Fundraise is apparently just a step away, need to signup here first, or create xyz report first, or do outreach to xyz number of people, or do market research and fresh pitch deck creation, or hire xyz consultant/agency to get to the "next level" - basically a bunch of barriers you need to pay to clear despite having a profitable business with paying customers. 

Fact of the matter is there are plenty of people raising money based off of pitch decks with no MVP , or even just the right conversations with the right people. But they are rare and hard to find organically. Requires lots of networking and connecting dots over months and years.

The point is, this selling in the guise of securing investment is tiresome and a waste of time for most entrepreneurs. They probably do get a few suckers occasionally which helps them stay afloat I guess.

Some of them might even take your ideas and start building something of their own or back someone to build it under them. Once you start pitching, the deck starts floating around in VC groups and networks mostly beyond the reach of the average entrepreneur.

Considering all this, just keeping one's head down and bootstrapping forever in peace seems like a better approach.

Disingenuous behaviour in startup ecosystem

Product Owner

I have been following the Indian startup scene for a while now, and I have to say that I am not impressed. It seems like most of the startups here are nothing more than people chasing quick bucks and the entire scene is a circlejerk of people doing everything, attending these stupid conferences and gatherings than actually building something game-changing.

Every founder is chasing nothing more than a valuation just so they can exit and there’s nothing wrong with it but don’t sit on a moral high ground talking about building business etc. There’s a reason we don’t see startups here penetrating west because most of the founders in the Indian ecosystem reek of ego and it’s all because we don’t judge business on merit but based on the degree the founders have. We all can count stupid startups draining money all because they are from some IIT or IIM or now some fancy degree from Ivy and yes it takes effort and hard work to reach there. Still, it automatically doesn’t translate to you naturally being better than a guy working his ass off to make up that difference.

Also, just because you used your dad’s money to start a 'Venture Firm or be an angel investor after college doesn’t mean you’re an expert at everything. You’re just adding to the noise and the hype that is already too much in this space. You’re not helping anyone but yourself and your ego.

So a friendly reminder can we all actually focus on building things based on hard work and merit instead of glorifying this circlejerk. Can we stop being obsessed with funding rounds and valuations and start being obsessed with solving real problems and creating value for customers and society? Can we stop being influenced by the media and the hype and start being influenced by the data and the feedback? Can we stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution?

Startup scene being a complete circlejerk.

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

I’ll go first.

To me, it’s all about access. 
Access to authentic ideas.

The best search result you get on Google is high SEO but low authenticity. On LinkedIn, there are so many people but everyone is shilling a course or 1:1 resume reviews. 

Mostly it has become a place which started as vanity signalling 

Like
( I have started a new role…, I have been accepted at …, I have received offers from F, A, N and G and I’m joining G.)  

And now people pushing mindless content with “Agree?” or “Comment Interested”.

Somehow, everyone is truly inauthentic to please a wider audience and say the exact same generic gyaan to maximise engagement.

For now, Grapevine is where people are genuinely themselves and I get to hear interesting things that you get to hear near the coffee machine.

Kinda feels like we’re all a big community where we all contribute and learn new things about the professional landscape around us.

Godspeed Grapevine. 🚀

Hola Grapeviners! I would love to know why are you on the platform?

What is with these loss making startup founders who give bucketloads of gyaan despite their ventures making losses galore. 

Gaurav of Unacademy wrote a thread and nitpicked on Byju’s yet everyone is aware of the ground reality of operations at Unacademy. 

Link to tweet - https://x.com/gauravmunjal/status/1806402269874999492?s=46

Another startup founder giving generic gyaan

Feedback letter from employee to Founders, CEO & CTO

Heartwarming message from ex-Byjus employee to founders.

For details just reply to this email. I will email an excel sheet of all of your failures 
 😂Lmao, that was🔥

Welcome to News Discussion's Private Community

[Thread] Why does every founder I know hate VCs to the core?

A friend of mine is working at a leading financial services company with over 100k employees. 
He feels like he'd want to be part of something smaller, create more impact and help it grow rather than be just a part of the crowd.

Where should he start? How can he find the suitable people and jobs?

How does someone get into the startup culture?

Associate

I am a '21 graduate from a Tier 1 college (old IIT) and have had short stints as product manager at a couple of startups. About a year back, I decided to startup but after a few months, realized that startup idea wasn't worth pursuing. 

Researched around a few startup ideas and finally landed upon a good one in D2C space. But the problem is financing. I don't have much saving and friends / family network wouldn't be able to finance this. I really want to pursue this idea but finance is becoming a hindrance. 

So started looking for job opportunities about 3 months back. I have been exploring work opportunities in product / founder office / EIR roles or other generalist role. 

Job hunt process has been frustrating to say the least. Getting very few calls. In most cases, people are ghosting after couple of rounds of interview or assignment. In some cases, after getting through 2-3 rounds, I got to know that opening has been closed temporarily. Most HRs don't even have the decency to give feedback. 

I don't intend to work in job for long anyway. As soon as I have the job, I plan to start working on my business idea and quit as soon as I have enough financial leeway. 

How should I go about job hunt process? I have been trying to connect with folks on LinkedIn in whose company job openings are there. Apart from this, I have been connecting with founders from recently funded startups. Naukri / Instahyre and IIM Jobs are other portals I have been looking on. Anything I should do differently here? 

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions / experience.

How bad is the job market?

Just a advice: 
  
 Never do the assignment for any company.This company will ghost you every time after the assignment or will offer lower pay / lower position. 
  
 Companies just try to get ideas via the assignment

Any thoughts on this. Why do Founders always portray themselves as superheroes? Is normal job only meant for peasants like us?

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Not Lenny. I'm asking about leaders actively working in India. 

Let's give them the acknowledgment they deserve. Please mention any product person you admire even if they are not 'LinkedIn famous',

Who are the best product leaders in India? Maybe you report to them, like their content, or love the products they have built.

King of LinkedIn India - accept it

Product Marketing Manager

Rant. Chappri Interns and mid af SDEs on LinkedIn have destroyed the entire point of the platform. Every Tier 1 graduate working at Microsoft or Walmart posts their own pic in some Manali hillstation and give 400 lines of unsolicited gyaan, which virgin btech 2nd year students cant help but drool at.

I get it bro/sis, you mugged up 800 LC mediums and Microsoft came to your BITS campus and picked you up because you solved a system design question in the interview which scales infinitely for infinite users. No, i dont want to enroll is PrepCracker's System Design Cohort for just Rs 69,999 and replace Hotstar's CTO.

Folks like Arpit Bhayani and Addy Osmani are the only reason I open linkedin to actually get some ground level reality of how to be a better SWE, but all i see is bhaiyya didi telling me why my resume is not getting selected because i didnt pay Rs. 1,999 for their Topmate Resume Review session.

Due to them Twitter is full of 2nd year dimwits who think swe is the only path to liberation and their bhaiyya didi will be their guiding angel. They won't. They'll turn out just like your average 3.5lpa employee at WITCH. The only way to become a good swe is figure shit out yourself and do what you love. Its that simple. Im from a shit tier 3 college. I've cracked FAANG and that too with 42 lc solved. What DSA bro?

Thankyou to the Grapevine team for building a good platform where genuine watercooler discussions take place. Deleted LinkedIn for good until i get my sanity back.

LinkedIn Gyaanis should be banned

Middle class people are not wrong in thinking that swe is a path to their liberation. I could only afford to travel to these exotic places, take up (unnecessary) hobbies, pursue gym and eat good after earning those fat paychecks because of these overvalued startups paying me

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ankitagarwal6_topmates-female-creators-leading-the-scenes-activity-7077652690243100674-c5DW

Why do people worship kids who are not even 1% of a Masters or PhD person? Knowledge wise they keep selling algo ds or marketing strategies. 
See comments they seem like stars 😂

Not jealous but in general where are we heading where new joiners are learning from new joiners.

What is going wrong with people?

Software Developer

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?

Fake reach

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