From Freecharge To CRED: Kunal Shah Responds To Linkedin Post Questioning His Loss-Making Startups - 'We Need More...'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) CRED's Kunal Shah on Saturday responded to a LinkedIn post which questioned“why we celebrate the entrepreneur” even when his startups gave mounting losses and zero profitability over 15 years.

Shah, known for co-founding Freecharge and later CRED, gave his insights on the ongoing debate about the metrics of entrepreneurial success, particularly in India's growing startup ecosystem.

What sparked the discussion?

The discussion started after a LinkedIn user Adarsh Samalopanan, who identified himself as senior consultant of Deloitte, pointed at the poor financial performance of Shah's ventures so far.

The consultant's post highlighted that Freecharge, founded in 2010, earned ₹35 crore by 2015 but incurred a significant loss of ₹269 crore.

Snapdeal later acquired Freecharge for ₹2,800 crore, only for Axis bank to purchase it for ₹370 crore, which is a mere 14% of its earlier valuation.

Similarly the post noted that Cred, launched in 2018 has earned ₹4,439 crore after almost seven years in business, however it still reported a loss of ₹5,215 crore.

The consultant's core question was,“Fifteen years into entrepreneurship, he has yet to record a single profitable financial year-so remind me again why we celebrate him?”

Shah's response to the critic

Responding to a post, Kunal Shah agreed with the premise that profitability is important, and stated,“Absolutely correct. We should be celebrating 1000s of entrepreneurs who have created very profitable companies without external capital.”

However, he quickly moved to the broader definition of entrepreneurial success, emphasizing that“We should celebrate everyone who is taking risk in life and being an entrepreneur cause in the post AI world being job seeker is going to be more risky.

Kunal Shah's response to the post

He further asserted“We need more job creators.”

After Cred's launch in 2018, it has since become one of most talked-about fintech startups of India. The company is famous for its unique approach to financial management, specifically for rewarding users for paying their credit card bills on time.

Netizens show mixed reactions

The post triggered mixed reactions among LinkedIn users, with some defending Shah's long-term vision and impact of the firm on people's financial decisions. They also noted his role in revolutionising digital payments before UPI's dominance.

Bhanu Pratap Singh, CEO of Cashcry said“Kunal Shah has built platforms that moved India's digital payments and credit culture forward. He's generated wealth for investors, created jobs, and inspired an entire generation to dare bigger.”

Another defended Shah by saying,“Companies like Amazon and Uber bled money for years before turning profitable - his ventures might follow a similar arc.”

Along with the praises, Kunal Shah was also criticised in the post as some users raised concerns about celebrating unprofitable ventures.
A LinkedIn user said,“Celebrating founders solely for valuation games without sustainable profits sets a dangerous precedent.”
Another person mirrored this thought and claimed,“Indian startup ecosystem is not as sound as it is projected and talked about, most of recent listings of Indian startups went horrendous on stock exchange.”

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