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Shantanu Deshpande calls out the absurdity of a “dude” selling “zero marketing costs” workshops
The candid founder of The Bombay Shaving Company pointed out a workshop that was promoting how to get customers without spending marketing money. Find out more.
Shantanu Deshpande said young people starting out in their careers should work for 18 hours a day and avoid rona-dhona (cribbing). He was immediately cancelled online, and faced a backlash.
Shantanu Deshpande, founder and CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, a men's grooming startup is known to speak his mind. That has not often gone well for him. In 2022, a post put out by him on LinkedIn sparked a firestorm. He opined that young people starting out in their careers should work for 18 hours a day and avoid rona-dhona (cribbing). He was immediately cancelled online, and faced a backlash.
Later in an interview with Storyboard18, Deshpande said a few things candidly, "I realized your words carry weight and sometimes people who know you directly, people who follow you on social media, they will know you because they followed you for a long time. They will get kind of where you are coming from. The moment your circle of influence goes beyond that significantly, you don't have the luxury of giving context to people."
Interestingly, he recently put out two LinkedIn posts. In one, he dropped a video made by his marketing team which takes a dig at his '18 hours' controversy. He just hinted, "The marketing team nailing another concept (and me)". In his latest LinkedIn post, he called out the absurdity of a “dude” selling “zero marketing costs” workshops. This got a lot of mixed reaction from the public saying how ironic the world of advertising and marketing has become.
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Deshpande also talks a lot about startups, leadership, and entrepreneurship on LinkedIn and his podcast The BarberShop with Shantanu. In July 2023, warned his users about taking entrepreneurship lessons online from non-founders. He wrote, "The number of non-founders giving advice on entrepreneurship with authority pisses me off totally. I honestly don't care if you seek attention or want likes. It's human. But innocent people tend to listen. And when the advice is poor, it can put someone's hard work and capital at risk."
Looks like Deshpande is getting his personal branding game right, and isn't holding back.
SPOTLIGHT
At the Storyboard18 DNPA Conclave 2025, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw spotlighted the critical role of traditional media in an evolving digital landscape. He emphasized that such gatherings can aid the govt in formulating more effective policies for a balanced and sustainable media ecosystem.
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