Nikhil Kamath and I hope he does not disappoint

I hope you mean Nitin Kamath and not Nikhil.

Executive Director

Corporate Strategist

Steve Jobs. For everything that was wrong in the man, he genuinely was cut out of a different cloth. To be able to understand what to market, and how to market it. To be a perfectionist. To be able to rally people behind a vision. 

He was a deeply flawed human, but he did bring phenomenal products to life.

I somehow doubt this. He was a visionary and a good story teller but he also has good designers and engineers with him.

Product Manager

Lol i thought you are asking people fhat i know - vese it would be Elon Musk

Built extraordinary organisation? When? Where?

Investor

Jeff Bezos for me. He's not the most easily likeable, but his obsession for the customer is the reason Amazon succeeded, and everybody else failed.

Data Scientist

We've all been inspired by people who have built extraordinary organizations. Who is it for you?

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Who's the most inspiring startup founder / business leader you know?

Who's the most inspiring startup founder / business leader you know?- Grapevine

Who is the most inspiring person in Indian startups?

Software Developer

👇🏽 who are some founders/leaders that you actually like and believe will be able to make great things happen. 

They don’t need to be famous.

🪡 Founders - who get it right?

Sriharsha from Swiggy. Doesn’t believe in personal pr, branding. Busy in building.

Growth Manager

Head Of Growth

Whom do you look up to the most? Whom do you want to become like? It can be someone you know, any celebrity, sports person, politician, etc.

Who is your inspiration? 🚀

Software Engineer

Startup Founders

Strategy & Operations

Trying to read up and learn about people who have epic done in their lives - via YT videos, books, podcasts etc. Looking for some names to start with. Let me know epic people from today/history that have inspired you 🙏🏻

Which world/business leader/famous personality do you look up to?

Context: Folks do you think being a early member (~20 employees only) in a startup with founders who are celebrated entrepreneurs with immense influence and popularity helps you in your career and growth? The founder is a champion investor btw. Now I'm ONLY concerned about my personal growth as a PM.
Do you think it'll be useful for my future?

Need advice : Working under legendary and influential founders

There is so much negativity around startups right now due to the market cycle since 1.5 years and because of a few bad names but I think overall startups have created massive opportunities in terms of wealth creation, up skilling and giving major breaks to people to learn faster. I think this is largely a founder driven issue as they simply want to be cool and startup for the sake of it but I’ve also seen founders that are committed and passionate however is getting difficult to recognize them and find companies actually building a good product that is solving good problem statement AND not get toxic culture. Can people share some examples in the last 5 years of such founders/startups so we can discuss them more and get some positivity on this platform?

Any positive startup stories?

Really excited to do this! 

Here's a little bit about my career:

- I dropped out of college to build a design studio with 20+ people for 4 years before leaving that to start another studio.

- I’ve worked across most major startups in Bangalore (not including brand names here for anonymity)

- I’ve worked across brand identity design, UX/UI, social media marketing, ad films, animation/motion graphics, and 3D

Happy to answer questions about design, freelancing, starting an agency/studio, the design industry, etc.

AMA ☞ Founder of a design studio based out of Bangalore

Founder

Which are some innovative mission driven CEOs/founder of startups or even established companies, who are solving a big problem very innovatively.

Also who are some globally such companies currently

New age CEO

Business Development Manager

Welcome to News Discussion's Private Community

- Deepinder Goyal has become a billionaire following a record rally in Zomato shares, which have surged over 300% since July 2023.
- Zomato's stock hit a new high of Rs230 on the BSE, boosting its market cap past Rs1.8 trillion and making Goyal India's richest professional manager with a net worth of Rs8,300 crore.
- The surge in stock is driven by expectations that Zomato's quick commerce business, Blinkit, will outperform peers and turn profitable sooner than anticipated.
- Analysts expect Blinkit to surpass Zomato's food delivery business in gross order value (GOV) and strengthen its market position, despite a longer path to sustainable EBITDA margins.
- Goldman Sachs values Blinkit at $13 billion, higher than Zomato's core food delivery business, predicting significant growth in GOV and EBITDA by FY29. 

 Source: Money Control

Zomato Founder-CEO Deepinder Goyal Joins Billionaire Club

One founder who truly inspires me!

- Founded Zomato in 2008 and was doing a completely different thing
- First business model failed. Did global expansion across many countries did not work out
- But created an excellent product: most reliable catalogue of restaurants and reviews
- Got into delivery after Swiggy and others
- Executes like a machine. Raised smaller rounds, cross Swiggy GMV, revenue, was first to get to unit profitability.
- BlinkIt acquisition
- Best startup IPO so far in India 

Truly the grit an entrepreneur must have. 16 years of building. It isn't easy, I am sure.

Journalist

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.

So I interviewed for a SaaS company serving US clients. I got selected after three rounds (basic email chat, built a project, technical coding round at last) and got selected. 

Finally, it was time to discuss salary and joining date with the CEO. He was impressed by the about section on my portfolio, where I mentioned that I like to go on treks, hikes, read books, lift weights, go on a run, etc. During our call he mentioned that everyone at the startup works 6-7days a week, 12hrs a day and asked if I'd be fine with it as I have a "happening life".

I said that I'm not used to it but I'll manage and work in appropriate working hours. He seemed to agree on it.

But he ghosted me after that, and when I pinged him in the email thread; he said he's not moving ahead with me because my other properties won't allow me to "work as much as other employees".

How am I supposed to react to this lol

I didn't get selected because... I have a happening life?

Glad, that CEO let you live for a better opportunity

Who’s your favourite Entrepreneur?

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Seeking a product leadership position in a startup that's at series A+ level, where I can directly work with passionate founders. I'm keen on joining teams that are genuinely adding value and scaling sustainably. Any recommendations for standout startups or exceptional founders to connect with?

Reason for Series A+, I also need a decent pay.

Which Startup is a Must-Join?

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

Hi everyone,

I've recently become fascinated by startup culture and am eager to build something meaningful and inspiring. 

Can you recommend resources or communities where I can learn about tech startups, discover new and emerging startups, and understand what makes them successful? I'm looking to immerse myself in a community that lives and breathes startups.

Thanks!

Startup Ideas and research

Salesforce Developer

Founders be sharing quotes about life, learning and all sorts of things on social media, but when you see them in real, you'll get a clear sense of ego, pride and "I know it all" vibe, so clear in the way they talk. Please be a human first, founder second. 

"Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy."

Norman Schwarzkopf

Founders in today's era

I have probably just gotten a tiny bit hyper aware these days. Of course the role of a founder is to inspire confidence and sometimes employ convenient half truths. I understand that. But I guess there are many out right scamming people. 

Are there more companies like Zerodha? (Or are they scamming too in some way that I don't understand yet)

Which start-up/founder according to you is doing the least amount of bullshitting?

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.

Who's the most inspiring startup founder / business leader you know?

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