Bengaluru-based entrepreneur Harsh Pokharna, co-founder and CEO of digital ledger app OkCredit, revealed that he was “residing paycheck to paycheck” even after elevating ₹120 crore in Sequence A funding for his startup in 2019.
“I had no financial savings and was nonetheless worrying about lease in Bangalore,” Pokharna wrote in a extensively shared put up on X. “And it’s not simply my story. I’ve seen it occur many times. Founders are elevating thousands and thousands, and nonetheless residing like faculty youngsters. Burdened about survival.”
On the coronary heart of his put up is a pointy critique of enterprise capital tradition. Pokharna argued that many traders favor founders to stay financially strained, making them simpler to manage. “VCs need founders to remain poor,” he wrote. “A founder with cash turns into harmful. Harmful sufficient to say no. Harmful sufficient to stroll away. Harmful sufficient to construct on their very own phrases.”
He identified the hypocrisy in how investor cash is dealt with: “If a founder dares to ask for a bit of private liquidity… they’re advised they may ‘lose their starvation.’ In the meantime, the identical VCs haven’t any drawback throwing thousands and thousands at serial founders who’ve seashore homes and retirement funds. Apparently, cash solely kills ambition when it’s in your fingers. Not theirs.”
The put up has triggered a wave of responses from startup founders and traders alike. One person replied, “Properly stated Harsh! Though the mindset is altering quick.” One other disagreed, saying, “Investor cash going to founders isn’t acceptable… Bootstrap it over years. Construct your legacy!”
Some, just like the group behind fintech platform Incentiv, provided tangible options: “We constructed Incentiv to unravel this actual drawback. We’re at present engaged on creating liquidity for a whole lot of shoppers.”
Pokharna ended his put up with a message for fellow founders: “The reality is—a bit of monetary safety doesn’t make founders weak. It makes them fearless. So should you’re a founder, don’t let anybody disgrace you into staying poor. Construct your dream. However construct your freedom too.”
