Kunal Shah on India’s ‘God Complex’ with founders: 'We worship, then do visarjan'
At an event in Bengaluru, the Cred founder says startup leaders should be seen as humans, not deities, as scrutiny around unicorns like BluSmart and GoMechanic continues.
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Serial investor and Cred founder Kunal Shah weighed in on India's volatile startup sentiment on May 22, calling out the country's tendency to idolize founders until a misstep triggers their public takedown, according to a media report.
Speaking at an event, Shah addressed the recent controversy around BluSmart founder Anmol Singh Jaggi, who allegedly diverted loans meant for electric vehicle purchases toward buying a luxury apartment at DLF's The Camellias in Gurugram and high-end golf equipment worth Rs 26 lakh.
"We have a unique problem of worshipping our founders like gods and then doing the visarjan when something goes wrong," Shah said in the report, invoking the Hindu ritual of idol immersion to describe the dramatic fall from grace. "We should treat them like humans who will make a lot of mistakes and look at them for 20-30 years, and see if they're going to make it or not," he added.
BluSmart, founded in 2019 by Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi of Gensol Engineering, is the latest in a string of startups under the scanner.
Commenting on the media's role, Shah acknowledged the appeal of such narratives. "It makes for great content and I wouldn't want to take that way from the media. These are great stories," he said, even as he emphasized the need for "a lot more resilience" in how the country perceives its startup leaders.
Shah's remarks come amid a series of high-profile controversies involving Indian startups:
- Bizongo, a B2B platform, drew auditor concerns over potential financial irregularities, including suspicious vendor-customer links and missing proof of delivery documentation.
- GoMechanic founders admitted to lapses in judgment after reports suggested they sought inflated valuations. Co-founder Amit Bhasin confessed they "got carried away" in pursuit of aggressive growth.
- Infra.Market also made headlines after Income Tax raids on its founders' residences, although officials found no unaccounted assets.
