Harsh Pokharna

We had to lay off 70 people while optimizing our burn 18 months ago.
Here’s how it went ⬇

It was one of toughest decisions we made.
But we did our best to take care of the people we had to let go.

📍I spoke to each of those 70 people personally to tell them why we had to take this decision & how we’re ready to help them with anything they need
📍Gave them a 3-month notice
📍Provided all of them with outplacement support.
📍Utilised our networks to help them get jobs at the earliest.

As a result, 67 out of those 70 folks got placed within 3 month's notice period.
We gave an extra 2-month salary to the remaining 3 folks who couldn’t get a job.

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17000+ startup employees were laid off from Jan-June this year.
It may be unavoidable but the way many companies are laying people off is heartbreaking.

A surprise email or revoking their access to office without any prior info is not the way to part ways with your own employees. This is inhuman.

Handling layoffs is extremely difficult but treating people with respect and compassion in the process is possible.

When you hire someone, you have a big responsibility to take care of them, even when you have to let them go.

I know how tough it is to have such conversations but you signed up for it as a founder.

Both hiring them & firing them are business decisions.
If you can make them feel like family while hiring, treat them like a family while letting them go too.

#layoffs #layoffsupport #entrepreneurship #founders #team

I quit Flipkart to build a startup because I wanted to make a lot of money quickly.


Founders were raising millions of dollars in funding all around me. It seemed easy.

But, the reality?

- Failed for the first 2 years trying 3 different ideas

- Exhausted all savings and had to start freelancing to survive

- Building OkCredit every day since 7 years and still have a long way to go


I learned a valuable lesson,

Startups ≠ Instant Success.

It’s a long-term game, not a get rich quick scheme.

Play it only if you genuinely want to solve a problem otherwise you will be disappointed.

#HarshRealities