the problem may not be widespread startup, But these examples are not outliers either – they are outliers at best in their intensity.
People who are risk-takers, such as startup founders, have often been found to behave like this, says Paramjit Singh, a psychiatrist at Delhi’s PSRI Hospital. He says the stress of raising funds and moving the business forward can result in unexpected explosions.
A senior executive, who recently sat for a job interview at a young Delhi NCR-based edtech startup, was asked, “How do you handle a boss who will call you to his cabin and throw things at you? ” The boss in question was none other than the co-founder of the company, which has garnered a fierce reputation of being volatile and unpredictable. The interviewer continued: “Even so I want to move on as quickly as possible.”
And that’s one of the big problems founding egoEspecially at a time when there is a dearth of talent. Will vote by foot. In today’s world, employees are the biggest IP, says Krishan Kumar, founder and CEO of Blackstone-backed online learning company SimplyLearn. “There is a war for talent. Therefore, no company can afford a toxic culture. It all starts from the top. Business leaders in the organization emulate the founders’ approach. As a founder you have to You need to be aware of this and make sure you are setting the right example for building a positive culture,” he says.
Krish Subramaniam, co-founder and CEO of subscription billing and revenue management platform Chargebee, says that in a world where the best talent has more options than ever before, “a great work culture is a serious gap and boards are paying close attention.” Will start.” Founders’ values or behavioral traits, they say, greatly influence the way an organization develops. “You can be kind, compassionate and yet ambitious. There is a lot to learn by reading about leaders like Ratan Tata.”
Creating a culture that is toxic and restricts freedom in the workplace is one of the fastest ways to stifle creativity and stifle innovation, says Naveen Tiwari, founder and CEO of ed tech unicorn InMobi. “When people don’t feel free to express themselves, you may find that your company isn’t creating real value for its users and customers and isn’t doing anything different, nothing more important. While I whole Can’t speak for the industry, for us, every employee, and not just the board, has the right and responsibility to ask important questions,” he says.
Don’t boards keep a close eye on company culture? Kumar says there are instances where the board overlooks such things, especially when the company is growing aggressively.
Prasanna K, managing partner, SaaS accelerator Upekha, says protecting founder interests often becomes paramount. “In the US, previously, it was very common for investors to replace the founding CEO with a professional CEO after a Series B (funding round). But if you look at Google or Facebook, they have tried to have 10x the voting rights of the investors. The founders structured the equity and remained in control,” he says.
Kumar says the best way to tackle such problems is to have strong independent board members. “If you include industry stalwarts on your board, they will always stand for good corporate governance,” he says.