{"id":517616,"date":"2026-03-04T07:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/517616\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:13:08","slug":"bengaluru-founder-reflects-on-5-gruelling-years-of-building-coffee-business-in-india-its-a-long-lonely-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/517616\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengaluru founder reflects on 5 gruelling years of building coffee business in India: \u2018It\u2019s a long, lonely journey’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Building a startup in India has always been a tough nut to crack, and for one Bengaluru founder, the past five years proved just how demanding that journey can be.<\/p>\n

\"JainJain described the experience as the most gruelling thing he has done, both mentally and financially. (@Vardhman Jain\/LinkedIn)<\/p>\n

Vardhman Jain, co-founder of the Bengaluru<\/a>-based coffee brand Drickle, formerly known as BONOMI, has shared an honest reflection on X as he nears five years of building his coffee business.<\/p>\n

Jain described the experience as the most gruelling thing he has done, both mentally and financially.<\/p>\n

In the post, Jain wrote that he is about to complete five years of trying to build his coffee<\/a> venture in India.<\/p>\n

According to him, entrepreneurship slowly changes a person year after year, forcing founders to develop a thick skin and prepare for constant criticism.<\/p>\n

Reality of building a business:<\/p>\n

Jain said business owners must learn to handle rejection and accept that people may tear their product apart.<\/p>\n

Over time, the ego has to be set aside. Emotional attachment, he suggested, becomes less important as founders begin to treat the venture for what it truly is.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou develop a thick skin for bullshit, let go of your ego, learn to accept rejection (and people tearing your product apart), and eventually become emotionally detached, treating it as what it is: a business,\u201d Jain adds.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on lessons learnt, Jain said he would not advise anyone to start a business without strong financial backing.<\/p>\n

He also warned against being overly attached to one\u2019s product, as this can cloud judgment and make it harder to take tough decisions.<\/p>\n

Describing the journey as long and lonely, Jain urged aspiring entrepreneurs to think deeply before signing up for it. While building a brand may look exciting from the outside, he suggested the reality is far more testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long, lonely journey; think deeply before you sign up,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

HT.com has reached out to the user for more details. This report will be updated when he responds.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Founder says flexibility helped him choose business over a 9-to-5 job: \u2018Even when my business was in initial stage\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the post here:<\/p>\n

Here’s how people reacted to the post:<\/p>\n

X users reacted strongly to the post, with many saying they agreed with Jain\u2019s honest views.<\/p>\n

One of the users commented, \u201cRespect this honesty. Most people see the cafe. They don\u2019t see the cash flow sheet. They see the brand. They don\u2019t see the burn.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second user commented, \u201cBuilding isn\u2019t just execution, it\u2019s identity work. The product evolves, but the founder gets rebuilt first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also Read: Founder compares cost of living in Bengaluru and London after relocating: \u2018This is what shift looked like\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A third user commented, \u201cStill, the grind of business beats the grind of a job, because it confers dignity. Chasing customers beats humiliating job hunting rituals, though isn’t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

A fourth user commented, \u201cFive years is no small commitment, and I relate to that transformation deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEntrepreneurship doesn’t build character, it reveals it, one brutal year at a time,\u201d another user commented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Building a startup in India has always been a tough nut to crack, and for one Bengaluru founder,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,63,258575,99,4244,258576,198,41810,1209,201],"class_list":["post-517616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bengaluru-founder","tag-business","tag-coffee","tag-coffee-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-founder","tag-india","tag-startup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}