A recent poll conducted by the ‘Startup India’ community on Reddit has sparked discussion around leadership qualities in the Indian startup ecosystem. The poll, which saw participation from a significant number of users, revealed the community’s picks for the “Best” and “Worst” Indian startup founders.
Best rated founder
Sridhar Vembu, the CEO of Zoho, emerged as the clear winner for “Best Founder.” Users lauded Vembu for his contributions to job creation, his commitment to building a successful product, and his impressive business acumen.Zoho, a multinational software company, is known for its diverse range of products and services, making it a major player in the global tech landscape.
Worst rated founder
Byju Raveendran, the CEO of edtech giant Byju’s, received the dubious honour of being voted the “Worst Founder.” Redditors criticised Raveendran for fostering a toxic work culture, misleading marketing practices, and questionable financial decisions. The company has also defaulted on large debt obligations in both the United States and India, leading to bankruptcy proceedings. These difficulties have resulted in large-scale layoffs, unpaid salaries, and a sharp decline in the company’s valuation.
Here are some of the user comments from poll
“Its a tough contest between Byju Raveendran, Bhavesh Agarwal, and Rahul Yadav. Life rarely gives you second chances, especially after royal screw-ups. He somehow found a way to sabotage that too.”
“Byju has to take this one. Its hard to piss off investors, customers, lawmakers across geographies and employees to the degree what he has managed to do”
“Byjus Ravindran He is greedy and followed stupid practices to sell his product. ( Many parents stuck in debt and cried ). He put so much pressure on his employees and treated worst. He picked a fight with investors instead of being supportive who supported him in initial stages. He brought bad name to Indian startup system. He is WORST because he brought worst experience to customers, employees, Investors, Vendors and to country. Atleast others didn’t disappoint atleast one stakeholder but he disappointed every stakeholder associated witht the company.”
“It may be Byju.. he screwed everyone whom he hired. Probably misguided by Investors .. The thing is he spoiled indian startup reputation abroad.
Whatever u say about Bhavesh he has started multiple billion dollar firms… and he needs a good PR agency but he is not bad .. there are handful of founders who could execute at his scale in 1.4 billion population”