When Startups Were a Red Flag ft. Vinayak Hegde
EPISODE NOTES
There was a time when working at a startup wasn’t cool. It was questioned. Vinayak Hegde takes us back to the pre-Ola, pre-Flipkart days. Just after the dot-com bust, choosing startups over “safe jobs” wasn’t a badge of honor. It was a risk people didn’t understand. Juniors would literally call and ask, “Why are you doing this?” Here’s the ecosystem lesson hiding in this story: 🔺 Startup culture is built, not inherited 🔺 Communities matter as much as capital 🔺 Networks level the playing field for first-time founders 🔺 The best platforms start by scratching their own itch 🔺 Ecosystems grow when founders help founders India’s startup scene didn’t just evolve. It was constructed deliberately by people who chose uncertainty before it was fashionable. And that’s why communities like the…