Please Do Not Startup, Please.
I have been investing now for 10 years+ at a $100mn Fund. If you have ever thought of starting up, do spend 5 mins reading this.
My younger brother who has been seeing me do investing has always been very excited about starting up. The idea is as good or better than 99% of the founders. And I still recommend otherwise. It’s not for everyone.
Not everyone should start a company. Startups are often romanticized, but the reality is that the journey is only suited for a small percentage of people. Truthfully, very few ideas have the potential to grow large enough to be VC-backable, and those ideas are rare. The rest—no matter how meaningful or well-executed—often fall into a challenging space where founders can feel trapped, especially after taking on venture capital.
There’s no glory in grinding 12 x 7 for 5-7 prime years of your life if chances of making it is 0.1%. VC funding means nothing more than you being invited for drinks and dinner 6x a year.
In India, the lack of breakthrough innovation in many startups makes this struggle even more real. It’s disappointing to see so many talented people starting companies, not because they’ve found a burning problem to solve, but because they’re drawn to the allure of the “startup life.” They end up pouring time, energy, and passion into ventures that may not align with their true potential or with what the market genuinely needs.
If you’re considering a startup, let this be a gentle reminder: don’t jump in just for the glory.
Unless you’re genuinely driven by a unique, compelling idea, one that fills a real need, think twice. Your work—done with focus, dedication, and care—can be just as meaningful and fulfilling. The value in doing your job well, in growing in your role, or even in leading from within an established organization is not less important. You don’t need a company to change the world; you need purpose, and that can be found in countless places beyond the startup path.
Hustle culture has romanticised this. “9-5 me kuch nhi rakha bro, chal startup karte hai” scenes basically.
On the other hand : Apke sath chai ya beer pi sakte hai kya? 😄
First thing money matters! So people jump into this space because more than buliding products for the consumers out there , they are interested in building wealth for themselves
Second many entrepreneurs trying to scale to the level where it's not strong enough to create monopoly or target significant range of users but good enough for being acquired by big players so they can take a successful exit
Well said
We went from "this is my dream company to work for" -> "I am super excited to build in this space" While the reality is that both are lies and you just wanted to make monnies and didn't care about either.
Spoken like true Elon Musk 👏👏
People who are reading this post here in this app, are definitely those who won't be able to succeed in startup. If someone has this much time to read/post about these topics then it means they are either average people or full time LinkedIn posters. I'm sure I'll find this post on LinkedIn also
My take on this is that VCs actually need to get their heads out of their asses and look beyond IIT IIM MBA tags, and fund entrepreneurs actually making revenue instead of funding ppts that dream of reaching billions without an MVP.
Until they start doing that, they will continue to get shitty returns on their funds.
India is literally filled with silent millionaires taking on high interest and risky loans instead of dealing with investors because they don't want to deal with unnecessary bs that VCs generally bring to the table (TAM SAM SOM , market size, pedigree, USP etc etc).
Only a VC has the balls to tell entrepreneurs how to run a startup without actually having run one themselves. Most VCs have never done it, yet think they know the market or businesses better than an entrepreneur.
Until VCs eat some humble pie, most of them will fold in 10-20 years max. Much like most startups.
Oversimplified statement to please masses.. and almost all look right from outside but none is.
@LooseGoose Operator VCs will gain respect in the longer term. That is what happens in US where the VC ecosystem has matured. Companies ask for board members who have been there, done that.