Startups talk about hard work, grit etc. Gen Z is practicing it and we remain spineless

A founder sent this email to his colleagues.

Impressive. But frankly, to other Indians — shouldn’t this be tablestakes?

In the startup ecosystem and business in general, we talk about:

• Courage

• Thinking differently

• Being solution-oriented

• Grit — the ability to go through tough times

• Leadership and community building

• Women playing a key role

Beyond a few exceptions like Mama Earth and Blue Tokai, most of them have turned out to be spineless.

Meanwhile, the middle class complains the government needs to act on taxes.

Venture capital talks about highcapital gains.

But here’s the thing: government only acts when it knows it can be held accountable. That’s what democracy is. Right now, they believe they can do anything. They don’t need to listen to what people want.

Gen Z is doing this for the country. The least we can do is verbally support them — beyond saying “Oh, how tragic, this needs to stop.” Humans were given a spine for a reason.

—Saurabh Parmar, Fractional CMO
www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhparmar/

PS — I just saw a video of a young girl standing in front of a police van, stopping it. It reminded me of the Tiananmen Square protest — the girl standing in front of the tank.