‘Influencers Make Poor Founders’: Bombay Shaving Company CEO Bashes Creator-led Startups

Shantanu Deshpande, Founder and CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, recently made an explosive comment about influencer-led startups.

Bombay Shaving Company CEO criticises influencer-led startups 

In a lengthy post on LinkedIn, Deshpande opined that most influencers are unsuitable to be startup founders, as they have a knack for instant gratification and a lack of long-term vision.

“Influencers by nature of work are driven by instant gratification. Views, engagement, popularity. Today. This instant,” he wrote, adding that their focus on social media metrics makes them “slaves of distribution.”

Contrasting this with the mindset required to build lasting businesses, Bombay Shaving Company boss said, “Founders (at least good ones building anything meaningful) realise this is a game of decades. They cannot afford to get distracted by the here and now tomfoolery of social media.”

Deshpande expressed his doubts about the sustainability of influencer-led businesses, especially those inspired by Western success stories.

“They’ve been taken for a ride by Mr Beast, Logan Paul and Kylie Jenner-type aberrations from the West which pump false printed dollar-value into non-COGS elements of businesses,” he said.

“All of this will be shaken down by China as we’re already seeing,” he added.

The entrepreneur concluded his post with a bit of advice for influencers seeking to become entrepreneurs: “Find operators, structure equity that reflects fair value added, and see if that works.”

Also read: ‘We Almost Died’: Aadit Palicha Reveals How Silicon Valley Bank Crisis And Wrong Hiring Almost Collapsed Zepto (startuppedia.in)

About Bombay Shaving Company

Men’s premium grooming brand Bombay Shaving Company was founded by Shantanu Deshpande, Deepu Panicker, Rohit Jaswal, and Raunak Munot in 2015.

The idea of a premium personal care and grooming solutions brand for men was the brainchild of Shantanu, who, after a conversation with a friend about the growing industry in the USA, realised its potential in India.

Also read: ‘American Engineers Are Exceptional But Indian Techies Are As Good’: Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha (startuppedia.in)