What are some of the mindless things that high funded startups do?

Can anyone share for the benefit of those who are keen to avoid making mistakes..

Come at me, I'm not scared. There is a reason why FAANG engineers are top-rated VS some random startup engineer. Here are the reasons why I think that Indian Startup culture is pure cringe: 1. The random use of the following emojis- 🚀💰📈📊💡 2. Fake enthusiasm for every little thing - "Wow! 25M people ordered condoms WOWOW!!!🚀" 3. Claim that you are a verb("company name"): "I am a (Zoman, Flipster, Swiggster or whatever)" but no one really knows about it outside of your company. 4. The HR is a proper softie in the name of Employee wellbeing but will end up being a sadist the moment layoffs happen. 5. Think hard if you really want to work in a place that is your LinkedIn feed on Steroids.

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?

What are some unethical thngs your funded company founders and core nepotism team.hve done?? Ex my ex company founder hired wife, sister, and friends as board of director giving 4 seats to the family itself + fancy designations like cfo, coo cmo and ceo. All took 5 lakhs per month each as salary which means 20 lakhs going home from VC funded money per month. 1 million fundraise goes home in about 3 - 4 years used to set up paralell businesses, etc and no money made in core business

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?

I was speaking to an ex-colleague and he mentioned how my previous employer, a lending startup, has been intentionally over-reporting disbursal numbers and under-reporting delinquencies in portfolio. They conveniently chuck the NBFC partners who dare to ask questions and instead catch new fish. During my time I saw sales staff committing rampant frauds and making money on the sides from users. The founders conveniently turned a blind eye till there was new business coming in. They've seemingly moved on to the next level now. The founders have top pedigree and already come from well off families. Makes me wonder how many such skeletons are buried across startups and what leads to such behaviour. Especially in the wake of what we saw with GoMechanic, Zilingo etc.

🥹

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.

The current startup tech employees and founders are filled with so much junkies who do not care about the product at all. The culture is set when the startup is founded,when the first set of employees arrive. These folks are some of the most driven and talented and that's fine, it's how it should be. But the problem begins when these folks do not find their own hiring strategy and copy the hiring strategy of other companies. Instead of analysing what works best for them they justify their hiring means by saying this is what other have done. The result is you get a bunch of leetcode warriors who are always wanting to jump ships when given opportunity, never forming deep knowledge about their industry and their product. I work in one of the legacy tech companies, sure we do not hire the best people but we nurture them and that earns loyalty and long careers in our company. Even the employees have a very 360 degree view wrt product. We always deeply care about our product. Tbh I love seeing the stupidity of the market and it makes me happy that more confident that these people are wrong and always will be. Even the Indian startups are unoriginal and copied from the west then how do you expect the hiring to be unique. We are all living in the circus where jokers are supporting each other in making the circus bigger.