{"id":388865,"date":"2026-04-20T14:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388865\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T14:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:58:07","slug":"from-stigma-to-stepping-stone-why-failure-is-no-longer-a-taboo-word-in-indias-startup-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388865\/","title":{"rendered":"From stigma to stepping stone: Why failure is no longer a taboo word in India\u2019s startup ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2005, 24-year-old Ashish Kumar made a choice that, at the time, seemed almost irrational. He quit his job at Microsoft <\/a>in the US and returned to India to build a venture of his own. Entrepreneurship then was neither celebrated nor widely respected. To many around him, it appeared he was giving up everything he had worked for \u2014 an IIT degree, a coveted global job and a stable career trajectory.<\/p>\n

About a decade-and-a-half later, that perception had begun to shift.<\/p>\n

In 2019, 25-year-old Abhinav Singh experienced a quieter kind of failure. His startup, Colorpur, a platform that enabled graphic designers to upload designs for manufacturing, was shutting down. It hadn\u2019t collapsed dramatically; it simply failed to scale. Yet, as he packed up his office, Singh felt something unexpected: optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much cooler now to be a founder,\u201d he told Livemint. \u201cEarlier, being a start-up founder was even seen as a red flag when getting married. But the key shift is that failure doesn\u2019t define you anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh\u2019s experience reflects a broader cultural shift in India\u2019s startup ecosystem. For years, failure carried a heavy stigma. Parents, peers and society at large often saw it as a sign of poor judgement. Today, it is increasingly accepted as part of the journey.<\/p>\n

One clear sign of this change is the growing openness around shutting down ventures. Founders now publicly acknowledge when their ideas don\u2019t work, often returning capital to investors and explaining what went wrong. This level of transparency would have been rare in the past. More importantly, many are willing to try again, treating failure not as an endpoint but as a learning curve.<\/p>\n

High-profile examples have helped reshape this narrative. Naveen Tiwari, founder of InMobi<\/a>, saw four ventures fail before building his fifth into one of India\u2019s first unicorns. Stories like his have helped normalise the idea that success often follows multiple setbacks.<\/p>\n

Nearly 49% of unicorn founders in India are repeat entrepreneurs. A growing number are re-entering the ecosystem, willing to risk both capital and credibility on new ideas.<\/p>\n

Some of these second innings are high-profile. Kunal Shah<\/a>, who sold FreeCharge <\/a>for $400 million in 2015, returned with CRED. Similarly, Sachin Bansal, after exiting Flipkart following its sale to Walmart, launched financial services firm Navi.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen more than 40 founders with prior success build new ventures and succeed again,\u201d Yagnesh Sanghrajka of 247VC told Livemint.<\/p>\n

Freeing up funding<\/p>\n

Also Read | \u2018I quit IIT, McKinsey, startup\u2019: Woman\u2019s decision to start over at 31 goes viral<\/a><\/p>\n

The cultural shift has been supported by structural changes. Greater access to capital and deeper internet penetration have made entrepreneurship more viable than before. India today has over 500,000 startups, a sharp rise from around 500 in 2016. Annual funding has grown from $5.2 billion in 2016 to $12.7 billion in 2025, according to Tracxn.<\/p>\n

The scale of this expansion reflects not just more capital, but a maturing ecosystem, one where ideas are tested more frequently and failure is absorbed as part of the process.<\/p>\n

The evolution of capital has not been limited to private markets. Public markets, too, have adapted. For years, profitability was considered the ultimate benchmark. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi<\/a>) barred loss-making firms from listing, reflecting a market that prioritised dividends over growth.<\/p>\n

That changed in 2021, when Sebi allowed new-age technology companies, often unprofitable but backed by strong investors, to go public. The listing of Zomato <\/a>became a turning point. It drew millions of first-time investors into the startup ecosystem, signalling a shift towards valuing scale, data and long-term potential.<\/p>\n

Since then, more than a dozen such companies have gone public, reflecting how both regulators and investors are adapting.<\/p>\n

Wealth creation within startups has also become more visible. According to TheKredible, over 100 startups have implemented ESOP <\/a>buybacks and liquidity programmes worth about $1.7 billion between 2020 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Employee stock ownership plans have played a key role in changing perceptions. By giving employees a stake in the company, startups have made risk-taking more attractive. Stories of employees turning millionaires after listings or buybacks have helped shift attitudes.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople started hearing about employees who had become millionaires overnight because of ESOPs when their companies scaled or went public. Suddenly, working at a startup didn\u2019t seem risky anymore,\u201d Arun Nair, a startup industry expert, told Livemint.<\/p>\n

Going mainstream<\/p>\n

As funding increased and success stories multiplied, entrepreneurship has moved into the cultural mainstream.<\/p>\n

Television, books and popular media have played a key role. Shows like Shark Tank India <\/a>have made entrepreneurship more relatable, bringing founder journeys into living rooms across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see a 12-year-old pitching a bike idea or a 65-year-old woman selling organic products, it shows why business success in India can no longer be defined by age, city or degrees,\u201d Kashish Mittal, the co-founder of Disha AI, told Livemint.<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurs are also becoming part of mainstream entertainment. Comedians like Kapil Sharma feature founders on their shows, while business leaders such as NR Narayana Murthy and Vijay Shekhar Sharma are increasingly visible in public discourse.<\/p>\n

Publishing has followed suit. Books such as Big Billion Startup and Doglapan have seen strong demand, with startup narratives often outselling typical non-fiction titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment the Flipkart book hit the market, demand was immediate, it didn\u2019t need to be pushed,\u201d Anish Chandy of Labyrinth Literary Agency told Livemint. \u201cWe pitched it as India\u2019s version of The Social Network, and the screen rights were sold even before publication.\u201d<\/p>\n

This visibility has normalised not just starting up, but also working in startups. As a result, mid-career professionals are increasingly making the shift.<\/p>\n

Sameer Dhanrajani, chief executive of AIQRATE and 3AI, pointed to the contrast. Corporate life, he said, offers title, pay and comfort, while start-ups demand doing everything. The internal push, he added, was simple: if he didn\u2019t try then, he might never.<\/p>\n

Also Read | Will this startup crack the 10-minute delivery code?<\/a><\/p>\n

Another marker of maturity is the rise of founder networks or \u201cmafias\u201d, groups of former employees who go on to build companies. The concept originated with the PayPal Mafia in the US. India is now seeing its own versions, including the \u201cFlipkart Mafia\u201d, \u201cZoho Mafia\u201d and \u201cZomato Mafia\u201d.<\/p>\n

Demographic dividend<\/p>\n

The shift is perhaps most visible among younger Indians.<\/p>\n

For 16-year-old Adithyan T, a Class 11 student in Bengaluru, exams are no longer the only measure of success. On his phone is a prototype of an app, a peer-to-peer platform for students to exchange textbooks. He speaks fluently about \u201cuser acquisition\u201d and \u201cearly traction\u201d, concepts picked up from watching Shark Tank India.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched it with my parents and thought, why not me,\u201d he says. \u201cGetting into IIT is about proving yourself to an exam. Starting up is about proving yourself to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even younger founders are emerging. Thirteen-year-old Rishaan Sindhwani has already launched Optimize Site, a website-creation venture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2005, 24-year-old Ashish Kumar made a choice that, at the time, seemed almost irrational. He quit his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[138,336,311,738,201279,111,139,69,1037],"class_list":{"0":"post-388865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship","10":"tag-founder","11":"tag-funding","12":"tag-indias-startup-culture","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-startup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}