<\/p>
Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com and a judge on\u00a0Shark Tank India Season 5, has weighed in on a growing but often misunderstood trend in India\u2019s startup ecosystem: founders resigning from the CEO role in their own companies.\u00a0<\/p>
In a detailed LinkedIn post, Mittal argued that such exits should not be viewed as failure \u2014 but as a sign of maturity and evolution.\u00a0<\/p>
Mittal pointed out that for years, Indian startups have\u00a0operated\u00a0under the assumption that a founder must also remain the CEO indefinitely. However, he believes this thinking no longer fits today\u2019s fast-scaling startup environment.\u00a0<\/p>
Startups now grow at a pace where the skills\u00a0required\u00a0at\u00a0different stages\u00a0vary drastically. What works for a team of 10 often collapses at 100, and what succeeds at 100 can break down at 1,000 employees.\u00a0<\/p>
Different stages, different skills\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> According to Mittal, most founders excel in the early phases \u2014 taking an idea from zero to one, and then from one to ten. But as companies scale, they demand\u00a0a different set\u00a0of capabilities: operational depth, process management, and experience in running large organizations.\u00a0<\/p> At this stage, bringing in a professional CEO can strengthen the company rather than weaken it.\u00a0<\/p> Global norm, Indian stigma\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> Mittal noted that in global markets, founders stepping aside for professional leadership is widely accepted and even encouraged. The founder\u00a0retains\u00a0ownership and long-term upside, while the company benefits from seasoned management\u2014often leading to better outcomes for shareholders.\u00a0<\/p> In India, however, such transitions are\u00a0frequently\u00a0portrayed as the founder being \u201cfired,\u201d failing, or involved in wrongdoing. Mittal stressed that in most cases, this narrative is simply untrue.\u00a0<\/p> Making yourself replaceable\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> One of Mittal\u2019s strongest takeaways was that founders should aim to make themselves replaceable. He cited global tech giants like Google,\u00a0Apple\u00a0and Microsoft as examples of companies that became enduring institutions by evolving leadership beyond their founders.\u00a0<\/p> Often, stepping down as CEO is not about loss of control \u2014 but about choosing what is best for the company\u2019s long-term growth.\u00a0In Mittal\u2019s view, a founder leaving the CEO role can be a mark of strategic clarity, not defeat.\u00a0<\/p> <\/div> Anupam Mittal, Shaadi.com founder, Shark Tank India judge, founder CEO stepping down, startup leadership transition, professional CEO in startups, Indian startup ecosystem, founder maturity, scaling startups, CEO replacement debate#fired #failed #Anupam #Mittal #startup #founders #exit #CEO #role1769971210<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com and a judge on\u00a0Shark Tank India Season 5, has weighed in on a growing but often misunderstood trend in India\u2019s startup ecosystem: founders resigning from the CEO role in their own companies.\u00a0 In a detailed LinkedIn post, Mittal argued that such exits should not be viewed as failure \u2014 but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[7959,2477,735,7956,7961,7958,7957,7950,7954,5557,7953,7960,7952,4325,7955,7948,7949,2984,7951],"class_list":["post-2614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-anupam","tag-anupam-mittal","tag-ceo","tag-ceo-replacement-debate","tag-exit","tag-failed","tag-fired","tag-founder-ceo-stepping-down","tag-founder-maturity","tag-founders","tag-indian-startup-ecosystem","tag-mittal","tag-professional-ceo-in-startups","tag-role","tag-scaling-startups","tag-shaadi-com-founder","tag-shark-tank-india-judge","tag-startup","tag-startup-leadership-transition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}