(1/6) If we have to truly become a startup culture that embraces and rewards risk, one of the things we must do is remove the stigma associated with layoffs. This stigma is deeply ingrained in our psyche and society.

(2/6) Business restructuring happens, startups ramp up and down everywhere - heck even mature companies in SV routinely churn 5-20% of staff - one biz unit would be ramping down and another would be hiring by the bunch.

(3/6) It’s never seen as a personal statement on the individuals involved - there’s no doom and gloom around it or end of the world narrative. It hardly even comes up with future employers - it’s understood.

(4/6)However, most hiring processes in India assign a disproportionate weight to this and HR/hiring folks want to deep dive on what happened and why you etc in their conversations like detectives trying to solve a crime or uncovering a big gotcha at the end when there’s none.

(5/6)This leads to candidates being scared and wary of being impacted, dictates how they react when they get impacted and most importantly getting forced on the defensive that often leads to bad decisions - and thus the vicious cycle continues.

(6/6) I hope this changes soon and our ecosystem evolves to accept these ups and downs as natural side-effects in high risk endeavours. Otherwise, people will continue to be risk averse and participation in the startup ecosystem will suffer.