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Sridhar Vembu (left); Sabeer Bhatia (right)
Entrepreneur Prakash Dadlani’s post went viral, in which he urged people to “pick” their business idols wisely.
“Pick your heroes wisely,” the Director of Topsail Appliances Pvt Ltd wrote on the social media platform X.
Dadlani took two examples of business founders - Sridhar Vembu and Sabeer Bhatia, and remarked that while Vembu built Zoho in the US, he returned to the country to contribute, Bhatia sold Hotmail in the US, stayed back and now “mocks” our nation.
“Man 1”, Dadlani shared while mentioning Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu, “Came back to Bharat, created jobs in villages & is contributing to his nation”.
“Man 1”, he added, mentioning Hotmail’s Sabeer Bhatia, “stayed back in the US and now mocks our nation”.
Dadlani warned upcoming entrepreneurs: “Choose to be a builder, not a joker.”
Pick your heroes wisely.
— Prakash Dadlani (@prakdadlani) October 4, 2025
Man 1:
- Built @Zoho in the US
- Came back to Bharat
- Created jobs in villages & is contributing to his nation
Man 2:
- Co founded Hotmail
- Sold in the US, stayed back
- Now mocks our nation
Choose to be a builder, not a joker.
Netizens respond
The post drew attention immediately with 914.34K views and 27K likes.
A user commented, “Builders like Vembu remind us what it means to give back.”
“Criticism is easy from afar, contribution is hard from the ground up,” said another user. “India needs more of the latter.”
Another individual remarked, “ Vembu is a role model for a lot of founders in India including me.”
“One built jobs in villages. The other builds noise on X,” wrote another user.
Who is Prakash Dadlani?
Prakash Dadlani is an entrepreneur with over 30 years of practical experience in all aspects of starting and scaling a business.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he founded a specialist sourcing and export trading system at the age of 16 and grew it into one of the market leaders in its field with a yearly revenue of USD 30 million.
At 28, he invented, developed and successfully marketed a revolutionary line of rechargeable LED lighting and backup power systems, which are now marketed and sold in over 30 countries. At 45, he started Manufacturing in India.