Bengaluru AI startup owner slammed after sharing crazy work routine

A recent post by the CEO of an AI startup has stirred the professional platform, LinkedIn as he shared the crazy work routine of his co-founder.

The crazy work routine 

Tushar S, the cofounder of Vaani, a Voice AI systems startup shared that his co-founder Abhinash Khare works from 8 AM to 2 AM. His bed is just three feet from the computer so he can jump straight into coding skipping the morning routine.

Although Tushar acknowledged that he did not intend to glorify the hustle culture but wanted to share how much effort has to be put into establishing a startup, his post was slammed on LinkedIn. 

The co-founder explains

''I am aware that the priorities might be a little off and neither glorifying the hustle, but he's willing to push the boundaries because we know what's at stake. Building a start-up is tough. Building a start-up without any resources or funding is tougher. Building a start-up by quitting a high-paying (and I mean CRAZY high-paying) job with no external backing? That's next-level.'' he wrote.

The Bengaluru-based CEO remarked this level of commitment was not needed. However, he emphasized that startup life without external funding demands pushing boundaries.

After receiving a lot of bashing on social media, Tushar clarified that he did not promote the hustle culture but to survive in the startup ecosystem one had to go beyond the limits. He wrote in a follow-up post: "Most of you have shown concern about our health and work-life balance. We're overwhelmed and grateful to see the responses. Of course, nobody wants to grind day in, day out for months; but sometimes you just have no choice and no resources.” 

LinkedIn fires up

Reacting to Tushar’s post, a LinkedIn user wrote, “Good rest, enough movement daily is a must for all of us, more so if we are working hard and intense. What you described above is a health hazard, please request him to rectify his routine immediately.”

Another user remarked, “This kind of grinding is a toxic work culture and I don’t see any point in praising it in public. I totally understand how hard it is to bootstrap a startup but at the same time it’s important to focus on sustainable and organic growth rather than grinding to slow death.”

A vast majority of people criticized Tushar for promoting toxic work culture and his post has been removed after that.

Also read: Shaadi.com CEO Anupam Mittal confesses discouraging new startup (startuppedia.in)