When I was running my previous startup, ConceptOwl, I heard of another EdTech startup that was growing rapidly using strategies that were not working for us. People would ask us — ‘Hey, that startup is making it work. Why can’t you do that?’
We had no answer, and I felt really incompetent.
Two years later, after raising 100 crore in funding, that seemingly successful startup shut down. That is when we realized that the story they were representing was very different from the ground reality.
There is so much hype in the startup world that what is visible is often not the truth. I think we all have taken ‘fake it till you make it’ too seriously.
And in the age of social media, this is true for life in general and not just the startup world.
When you see someone doing really well and feel bad about why you are not able to make it, remember to double check.
There is way too much of ‘fake it till you make it’ going on these days.
– Rajan