Startup founder blames ‘hustle culture’ after ending up in hospital

A young startup founder, Kritarth Mittal, after being hospitalized, revealed the dark side of ‘hustle culture’ on social media. Kritarth is the founder of Soshals app, which has been set to revolutionize the creator economy by helping influencers manage, monitor, and monetize their social media distribution from a single intuitive platform. 

After getting admitted to the hospital, Kritarth shared his photo in the hospital bed and cautioned young founders about the hazards of the new age ‘hustle culture.’ He admitted that overworking and poor health choices had taken a toll on his health. 

The dark side of hustling

In this day and age, more and more people are sacrificing health to secure a successful place on the professional front. This is resulting in permanent health issues. Obviously, there is a price you have to pay to run in the rat race. Kritarth’s incident points to this sad reality. 

Hustle culture comes with a cost — some you incur right away and some over decades.

Choice is yours, I'm just here to show you the ugly side of it so you don't get swayed easy.

This is me after pulling all-nighters, sleeping for <5-6 hours, and no diet plan: pic.twitter.com/NcksKnwr7h

— Kritarth Mittal | Soshals (@kritarthmittal) September 2, 2024

In the post, Kritarth advocated prioritizing health over professional demands. Taking to X, the young founder wrote, “Hustle culture comes with a cost — some you incur right away and some over decades. Choice is yours, I'm just here to show you the ugly side of it so you don't get swayed easy. This is me after pulling all-nighters, sleeping for <5-6 hours, and no diet plan.”

The founder has remarked that working 12 hours a day isn't necessarily dangerous if rightfully balanced with regular exercise, a good diet, and adequate sleep. However, he admitted that it was hard for him to maintain a healthy routine, leading to issues like constant bodyache and dark circles under his eyes. 

He tweeted, “I don't think 12 hours of work is too bad if you're able to compensate it with a regular work-out and a good diet (I hope 8 hours of sleep is also included in this routine). I have struggled to maintain a healthy routine, diet or sleep cycle. Hence, constant body pain, dark circles, etc. If you're not observing all these symptoms, you're good.”

Social Media Reactions

A user on X commented on his post saying, “You should never pull all nighters. Sleeping for atleast 7-8 hours a day and not drinking or smoking has made me sustain this long. The code that we write during the allnighters can be always written in the morning after a nice sleep. This is the strategy I use.”

Another person has remarked, “All bodies are not equal. You need to understand the signals your body is giving and take it slowly. I had to go through the same. I stopped responding to the after 10 PM and early morning phone calls.”

Someone else wrote, “Wealth comes next to health, anyday!”