In 2024-25, more than 19800 start-ups shut shop in India (DPIIT Data).
Out of these, almost 15% of them reported corporate governance and alignment issues with co-founder friction and execution, poor internal ops misalignment being the major reasons for the downfall.
But let’s see if the problem is restricted only to start-ups.
According to SEBI, MCA and proxy advisory agencies, more than 800+ corporate governance and alignment issues were flagged under different clauses by different regulatory agencies across top 100 companies in India in the last 5 years from 2021-2026
Now this data presents an interesting dilemma:
With crème de la crème management graduates not just from top Indian management institutes, but even from global institutes joining these firms, some of the top minds at our premier tech institutes creating start-ups, what’s going wrong in our management for this to be almost an endemical risk in our business setups.
Working with 100s of Small medium and large corporate clients over the last two decades, I have been trying to figure out, what’s going wrong here. So, it seems, somewhere , the lessons from our great management gurus are getting ignored or we are simply not looking for the right gurus.
Then, where do we look for the right principles and values that would help our start-ups, large and small enterprise create a stable management structure to help them pivot to next level ?
So, just this afternoon, I was relistening to the Parvati song from the movie Hanuman Ansh ( about 1500 times now) and then suddenly I got the epiphany (obviously, because it’s about Shri Hanuman): Our management lessons are hiding in plain sight, right in front of us since millennia, since yugas.
Before I complicate and confuse you more, Let’s welcome the Holy Trinity ( Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Mahesh)- the biggest management gurus.
They have been running the whole damned universe, unwavered, managing it continuously and still retaining trust of earth’s denizens in-spite of everything happening around us.
So I have piqued your curiosity, Let’s look at their roles that have been told to us by our history and knowledge books and guides:
Lord Brahma: The creator. He’s blessed to have Saraswati by his side as the knowledge source BUT he doesn’t manage the Universe. He just creates!
Lord Vishnu: The Manager. Looks calm but manages the occasional disruptions, attacks, evil forces pretty well and still manages to get 40 winks ( read Yognidra). With Laxmi by his side, he has the investments and the currency to manage the operations
Lord Shiva: The Destroyer. The pivot. Good at blessing new ideas (read asuras)( Some at his and Lord Vishnu’s peril :D) but, that exactly is the reason for transformation and continuous flow of energy through the universe else, it will be all stale. Well.. so may be I call him an Innovator. With Shakti ( read authority ) he has the power to Pivot and bring about the change.
So, with these omnipresent gurus helping us , what lessons do we co-founders have for our start-ups and organization.
- One or two are not enough: 78% of the start-ups have less than 3 co-founders and that means multi tasking , trying to do tasks which require special skills or hiring professionals whom you have no clue about what they are doing.. So, just like the Trinity you need someone with the ideation/ creator energy( domain knowledge, market pulse), another person with the potential energy ( managing BAU and operations) and another one with kinetic energy ( who continuously questions, strikes down the old ideas, pivots mercilessly without authority) and NO these cannot be the same person because we humans suffers from biases, opinions for and against our own creations.
- Learn the skills: Whichever role you are taking , skills and learning are a must to serve your team and customers well. You may hire staff members, professionals, contractors for their skills but if you don’t speak their language , understand their art; be ready to be taken for a ride, later or sooner..
- Find the balance: Being the trinity, also means holding the universe in balance; so, as cofounders you should know which of the co-founder should take the lead and take decisions, if the equilibrium tilts. You all have individual authority and collective accountability. If one falters, the other two support and correct.
- Replicate: The Holy Trinity model is replicable and repeatable. Every department, every function can replicate the same, so that, as each of your micro universes grow ( read marketing, sales, finance, operations et al), they individually have all their answers within while being connected to the cofounders as their source energy.
Now the big question to you my dear cofounder: Which one do you represent in your organization: Brahma, Vishnu or Mahesh??
