After VG Siddhartha’s sudden demise, startup founders talk about pressures and hardships they face

Entrepreneurs and investors in the startup ecosystem expressed shock and offered condolences on the death of VG Siddhartha, the founder of Cafe Coffee Day chain, while pointing out that the pressures and hardships attached to entrepreneurship do not get discussed widely.
The incident has made founders who’ve been through a tough phase running companies talk about their struggles, failures and challenges. Real estate site CommonFloor’s cofounder Sumit Jain admitted being under pressure while running the sale process of his first startup as it was acquired by Quikr.
“Factors like failing to deliver as per expectations, worrying about rejections, physical, mental or emotional fatigue, and putting the startup’s growth ahead of everything in life results in the loss of friends, hurts personal relationships and health,” he said. Jain now runs OpenTalk, a voice-based social platform that connects people over their topics of interest.
Entrepreneurs said the pressure is immense on a daily basis. There are hardly any discussions about this in the industry, which results in loneliness and depression, they say. “The stress level magnifies as a CEO, especially because you’re responsible for cash flow. It can get very lonely,” said Ravish Naresh, who first cofounded Housing.com and now runs Khatabook, which helps small businesses in record-keeping and accounting. Naresh has brought on board a therapist consultant in his new venture. “Anyone in the company can approach this person. Sometimes these initiatives can be the difference between life and death.”
Experts said most startups do not have processes to tackle such issues, while bigger companies may be better equipped. “There is intense pressure from investors — and from oneself — to achieve great outcomes. This drives entrepreneurs to make every second count, reducing the time spent on rest, relaxation and on relationships, leading to fatigue, loneliness and isolation,” said Shyam Bhat, psychiatrist and head at Mindfit.
Investors have a big role in mentoring and easing the anxiety of founders, industry observers said. According to Revent Bhate, partner at Kstart, a seed fund initiative by Kalaari Capital, his single-biggest objective has been to engage transparently with founders, give them a clear picture of their best options and meet them in person. “Face-to-face meetings… are a great way to build rapport and pick up on non-verbal signals that are hard to catch over calls,” he said.
But, Rahul Chowdhri, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, said the Indian startup ecosystem is slowly changing and has started to embrace failures. “Startups and investors do not shy away from working with failed entrepreneurs anymore and even when the pressure is high, the rewards are also high.”