While there are innumerable anecdotal expositions of the casting couch syndrome in the entertainment industry, very little has been in the air about the presence of a similar stuff in the start-up world, though on a different paradigm of trading favors beyond the amorous ones.
One fine day you receive a cheque of a sizable chunk from nowhere which is deposited to your company's account on the behest of your 'investor'. The very next day you receive a direction to share the invoice format of your company along with a substantial number of signed cheque leaves and Demand Draft Forms.
You are then made to allay the concerns of the relationship manager of your bank that a significant chunk of cash transaction is being accentuated from your account by using an instrument duly authorized by you.
You are even made to issue directives to your bank to issue forex for business operations which are nowhere on the anvil.
You are thereafter sent detailed instructions to deposit specific TDS amounts in the Government Account on behalf of several individuals or organizations.
This keeps on happening every now and then in multiple iterations without restraint.
You are perplexed and confused and somewhat clear that something fishy is happening but you tend to give in to the start-up casting couch. The aura & halo around the prospect of being invested in the burgeoning world of start-ups make you succumb to a well orchestrated mechanism & modus-operandi.
The most interesting revelation arrives at your door when you unravel that the person with whom you had had been prostrating and bowing down as investor is nowhere in the actual picture. He has simply built up a smart web of referential transactional forefronts to keep himself at bay, if the time of reckoning comes at all.
None of it finds any mention in the super thick, intertwined and extremely one-sided investment agreement, whose original signed copy is never shared with you as an integral part of the larger schema which is duly pre-meditated and probably championed a number of times. The investor representative is never appointed on Board while these ponzy transactions are being heralded in the name of extending trust to the entrepreneurs.
You are programmed psychologically every now and then that this remains the dominant reality of the world of investments and in order to touch the heights of heavens, the depths of hell are to be traversed alongwith.
When you tend to raise concerns & objections about this relentless spree, you are smirked at and derided to focus on value creation for the company and achieving the projected numbers well before the timelines.
You entered the world of entrepreneurship to create valued products or services to make an impact in chosen domain and in turn create valuation for investors and shareholders. You toiled extremely hard, sacrificed a significant chunk of your comfort zone, gave up your personal moments and faced a host of hazard for the singular objective of making things tick.
The risk of failing or not meeting the intended goals hovered over head all the time as well. But never ever in your remotest of dreams you had expected to land up as a conspirator or facilitator of a criminal offence.
The unceremonious outcomes of an amorous casting couch escapade can be obliterated by an i-pill, the ones emanating out of the start-up casting couch have the propensity to render you as the enemy of the state.
On a personal note, I have taken the extreme step of opting for the c-pill by making my confession to the authorities concerned. The same is available at http://startupcastingcouch.blogspot.in/2016/01/drawing-attention-to-prevent-start-ups.html. The confession pill paves the path for repentance and purifies your karma, well in time.
Incidentally, this open confession also presented a unique facet of exploiting the structural fault lines of Indian Justice System whereby you can be harassed by a battery of lawyers who have the power and prowess to bend the perception of truth in any possible direction which is well endowed, including the advent of a driverless car much well ahead of its time on the roads of Mumbai.
Filing innumerable ponzy cases across police stations and legal suites in various courts on innumerable counts including defamation is perhaps a well rehearsed master tactic to deflect attention from the center of gravity. The day I filed my confession to offload my conscience, I got a threatening for harassment through multiple modes (http://startupcastingcouch.blogspot.in/2016/01/threatening-call-for-multifarious-modes.html).
c-pill warrants you to remain unfettered & undeterred and gives you the inner conviction to pursue your conscience irrespective of the outcomes. I thereby responded to this threat (http://startupcastingcouch.blogspot.in/2016/01/response-to-threatening-call-for.html) and have chosen to go public on this entire issue.
Some of my learned and considerate lawyer friends advised me to opt for an anticipatory bail as I can be arrested on a Friday evening and tormented throughout the week by a well greased police machinery as a part of this ordeal.
I cherish their affection and consideration towards me, but I personally feel convinced to face the brunt of it all to make a strong case in point on the forthcoming 16th of January, when the Hon'ble Prime Minister would be unleashing a major drive to empower the Start-Up Movement in the country.
The shine and sheen surrounding the world of start-ups somewhere needs a rounded view in the overall cultural context of India rather than getting entirely deflected from the surfacial tizzy of the Silicon Valley which is housed in a much more liberal, progressive and daring society unlike India whereby a sarkari naukri of the order of a patwari would make you a quick millionaire without the toil or torment of a start-up.
16th being a Saturday, I hope being hounded and tormented in one of the Police Stations for my crime of endeavoring to create a meaningful enterprise. This can be termed as my tiny contribution to the cause of Stand-Up India.
---
The author is a graduate from IIT Kharagpur, Class of 2004. Co-Founder of Extra Edge Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. which failed twice to afloat a multi-channel educational infomedia platform engaging the engineering fraternity of the country, first as UPTU Watch, second as Engineering Watch. An ever unreasonable, he spent the first five years of his career in serving the land of Krishna documenting & restoring sacred water bodies, groves, hills and other ecological assets.
One fine day you receive a cheque of a sizable chunk from nowhere which is deposited to your company's account on the behest of your 'investor'. The very next day you receive a direction to share the invoice format of your company along with a substantial number of signed cheque leaves and Demand Draft Forms.
You are then made to allay the concerns of the relationship manager of your bank that a significant chunk of cash transaction is being accentuated from your account by using an instrument duly authorized by you.
You are even made to issue directives to your bank to issue forex for business operations which are nowhere on the anvil.
You are thereafter sent detailed instructions to deposit specific TDS amounts in the Government Account on behalf of several individuals or organizations.
This keeps on happening every now and then in multiple iterations without restraint.
You are perplexed and confused and somewhat clear that something fishy is happening but you tend to give in to the start-up casting couch. The aura & halo around the prospect of being invested in the burgeoning world of start-ups make you succumb to a well orchestrated mechanism & modus-operandi.
The most interesting revelation arrives at your door when you unravel that the person with whom you had had been prostrating and bowing down as investor is nowhere in the actual picture. He has simply built up a smart web of referential transactional forefronts to keep himself at bay, if the time of reckoning comes at all.
None of it finds any mention in the super thick, intertwined and extremely one-sided investment agreement, whose original signed copy is never shared with you as an integral part of the larger schema which is duly pre-meditated and probably championed a number of times. The investor representative is never appointed on Board while these ponzy transactions are being heralded in the name of extending trust to the entrepreneurs.
You are programmed psychologically every now and then that this remains the dominant reality of the world of investments and in order to touch the heights of heavens, the depths of hell are to be traversed alongwith.
When you tend to raise concerns & objections about this relentless spree, you are smirked at and derided to focus on value creation for the company and achieving the projected numbers well before the timelines.
You entered the world of entrepreneurship to create valued products or services to make an impact in chosen domain and in turn create valuation for investors and shareholders. You toiled extremely hard, sacrificed a significant chunk of your comfort zone, gave up your personal moments and faced a host of hazard for the singular objective of making things tick.
The risk of failing or not meeting the intended goals hovered over head all the time as well. But never ever in your remotest of dreams you had expected to land up as a conspirator or facilitator of a criminal offence.
The unceremonious outcomes of an amorous casting couch escapade can be obliterated by an i-pill, the ones emanating out of the start-up casting couch have the propensity to render you as the enemy of the state.
On a personal note, I have taken the extreme step of opting for the c-pill by making my confession to the authorities concerned. The same is available at http://startupcastingcouch.blogspot.in/2016/01/drawing-attention-to-prevent-start-ups.html. The confession pill paves the path for repentance and purifies your karma, well in time.
Incidentally, this open confession also presented a unique facet of exploiting the structural fault lines of Indian Justice System whereby you can be harassed by a battery of lawyers who have the power and prowess to bend the perception of truth in any possible direction which is well endowed, including the advent of a driverless car much well ahead of its time on the roads of Mumbai.
Filing innumerable ponzy cases across police stations and legal suites in various courts on innumerable counts including defamation is perhaps a well rehearsed master tactic to deflect attention from the center of gravity. The day I filed my confession to offload my conscience, I got a threatening for harassment through multiple modes (http://startupcastingcouch.blogspot.in/2016/01/threatening-call-for-multifarious-modes.html).
c-pill warrants you to remain unfettered & undeterred and gives you the inner conviction to pursue your conscience irrespective of the outcomes. I thereby responded to this threat (http://startupcastingcouch.blogspot.in/2016/01/response-to-threatening-call-for.html) and have chosen to go public on this entire issue.
Some of my learned and considerate lawyer friends advised me to opt for an anticipatory bail as I can be arrested on a Friday evening and tormented throughout the week by a well greased police machinery as a part of this ordeal.
I cherish their affection and consideration towards me, but I personally feel convinced to face the brunt of it all to make a strong case in point on the forthcoming 16th of January, when the Hon'ble Prime Minister would be unleashing a major drive to empower the Start-Up Movement in the country.
The shine and sheen surrounding the world of start-ups somewhere needs a rounded view in the overall cultural context of India rather than getting entirely deflected from the surfacial tizzy of the Silicon Valley which is housed in a much more liberal, progressive and daring society unlike India whereby a sarkari naukri of the order of a patwari would make you a quick millionaire without the toil or torment of a start-up.
16th being a Saturday, I hope being hounded and tormented in one of the Police Stations for my crime of endeavoring to create a meaningful enterprise. This can be termed as my tiny contribution to the cause of Stand-Up India.
---
The author is a graduate from IIT Kharagpur, Class of 2004. Co-Founder of Extra Edge Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. which failed twice to afloat a multi-channel educational infomedia platform engaging the engineering fraternity of the country, first as UPTU Watch, second as Engineering Watch. An ever unreasonable, he spent the first five years of his career in serving the land of Krishna documenting & restoring sacred water bodies, groves, hills and other ecological assets.
