Indian startup culture is the cringiest thing ever

Hello all! I am working as HR Head in a growth stage startup in Bangalore. So many people here talk about compensation, culture, growth etc. Happy to answer questions related to HR/Culture/Startups.

It has become very prominent in India now

I recently got an offer from a seed stage startup for a SDE2 role. They shared the offer in a 2 liner mail. Weirdly enough they have a probation period of 3 months which could also be extended to 6 months during which there'll be no paid leaves, nothing, and you cannot be late to the office any day. I asked them to share the detailed offer letter with all these verbal probation clauses penned down and they've not replied for a week. After getting the offer, they asked me to submit my adhar card, pan card, 10th, 12th marksheet, graduation certificate, passport, birth certificate, payslips, previous offer letter, resignation mail, proof of bonuses and all sorts of documents. It's funny how they think trust only works one way. I've withdrawn the application as there were too many red flags during the entire process. I really wish the Indian corporate system had an open culture where trust is bidirectional and not act like we're at the mercy of their job.

I go through multiple posts every day. Every one is cursing their company. The bosses are bad. Managers suck. Company is fraud. Is it always the company, managers , bosses at fault. How can we create better work environment in Indian Startup’s.?

A lot of folks working at startups seem to be "passionate " about their job. Some of them possibly, truly are. Some foolishly reverse engineer this passion because they're paid really well and they've been doing a good job and it's good personal PR to say "passion". A few reality checks. 1. Your cool Bangalore lifestyle is a result of investment risks/bets taken by VC's . 2. Your salary is as much about the market demand as it is about your " passion " and talent. 3. Startups will generally lower the bar for hiring processes to meet their demand for talent. Why need so much talent? Because the startup needs to spend that 100M$ Series C that just made them a unicorn. That's how they convince the VC to give more money. "We are going to 2x revenue by 2xing our salesforce and buying 10M$ worth of Saas that will increase our productivity by 5x. " And boom ...100M$ transferred into you SVB bank account. 4. You are as replaceable as a garbage bag on your dustbin. The HR is probably flirting with 10 other like you over linkedin. 5. The "values" this startup apparently espouses are mostly nothing but a honey trap and positioning to lure talent. It's great to have a nice tech job that pays well and allows you to gloat on twitter like a techbro but don't let it fool you into getting an inflated sense of entitlement. You're probably living on borrowed time....and money. :)

I'm thrilled to share our latest developments in our startup: We launched our prototype and it's gaining momentum! Our previous product, currently in stealth mode, has remarkable insights. However, the GPU usage costs have skyrocketed. Our new goal? To build an AI platform that serves as a cost-effective hub for training AI models. No one's tackling this issue, so we are the first ones to solve this issue. We already have some ties with the microchip manufacturer. Here's the thing: While we've been self-funded until now, we're now exploring seed funding. But there's a catch – we're cautious about accelerators and VCs. I have seen them undervalue my mate's company and prioritize quick revenue over steady growth. So how should we go about it ? I'll drop an example post for much clearer problem statement.

I am starting up soon. I care about working on meaningful problems, with good people and building the right culture. Have been hearing from a lot of folks about culture problems in startups. Seems more of a norm rather than an exception. Curious to know why do startup culture degrade? What pitfalls should I avoid to create a healthy culture?