Start-up, not a Screw-up

I graduated from IIIT Delhi in April, 2014. I did not join a corporate job straight away after graduating, as I wanted to explore further avenues. I instead joined my professor back at IIIT Delhi to push for an education start-up.

Needless, to say, like most people with start-ups often do, I grew disenchanted with lack of development after the first 3 months, plus the pressure that I was not making any decent amount of money when compared to my peers who were establishing themselves in the industry.

With my inner self in conflict, I decided to quit whatever-it-was and began to work for a data analytics start-up in Delhi NCR. I converted my probation of 3 months to a permanent job offer within a month, and completed the initial learning phase which took an average of lets say 2 months within the first month itself- the work was over-hyped anyways.

I was restless. I was bored. Any job grows monotonous after some time.

I somehow still got through exactly 5 months of job- till the day I quit.

I went back to school to my professor, and we decided to push for Machine Learning and Optimisation driven start-up where we simply approach other people to work on their problems and make money in the process. Sounds cool, and I am having fun.

I work 10-12 hours a day, (not counting the commute.) and still don't feel tired. It's exciting, it's fresh. It has been so for the past 6 months. Exactly, so.

There are a lot of groups on social media networks based for start-ups and entrepreneurs.

A lot of people post for possible freelance work, internships etc.

A trend in these postings that I have noticed and also observed first hand at my previous job.

Start-up has become synonymous with screw-up.

Allow me to explain further. People post for possible internships, they put tremendous amount of workload and push the interns through every possible hell while they pay them a pittance- so much so that interns actually spend more than what they are getting just to get by. And, in some cases nothing- nada, zilch, zero.

Start-up has become an excuse for not paying people good decent salaries, or making them work for hours that do not exist.

Start-ups usually meant doing awesome work with limited resources. It was a way of doing things the way you wanted on your terms with the risk of going bust the next day. Of course, long term plans are there, but look at Taxi For Sure vs Ola. Ola Cabs wiped the floor with TFS within a span of 3 months.

Start-ups were meant to break the monotony of the daily corporate grind, and not become a grind itself. It meant putting a few extra hours, working your ass off every now and then. But the core philosophy was having fun on the way. The journey, not the destination. Look at any entrepreneur who has gone big, as soon as they reach a peak, they start investing in other ventures by turning Angel. It's an addiction.

Start-ups instead have today started exploiting talent, and youth by dishing out meager salaries, with extended working hours without providing their employees any resources(because they are a start-up). This is nothing but sheer exploitation.

The oft-repeated argument here is that nobody forced you to work. Yes, precisely. There are a lot of people doing a lot of things in the world, which they are not forced to do, but they still do and when you sit back, pause and reflect for a tiniest of a second you will say that it was bad and people should not treat other people like that, nor should they do what they were doing- forcibly or by will.

In India, you can find people anywhere. I mean literally. You can not find a moment and place alone where you wished there were just random strangers around because they are already there. In a country where Engineers are pulling rickshaws and appearing for government job for a peon, imagine what it is to be like. Post a job offer where you do not pay anything but hope after 3 months, people are ready to donate a kidney. You are God.

But being God should make you rise above pettiness, and look up. Sadly, people sink below the level where hell ends.