I've noticed that some colleagues of mine place a lot of emphasis on flaunting their lifestyles, which I find quite illusive. Take a look at the lifestyle in metro cities. What's that all about?
It's about earning more and spending even more!
This "spend even more" lifestyle is often fueled by credit card EMIs, provided by yet another business aiming to make a profit.
My perspective is simple: if something can be bought online or any store in exchange for money, it's not worth worrying about. Anyday that transaction can happen.
Businesses exist to market their products as the ultimate aspiration! That’s their job!
The Diderot Effect is the idea that,
Acquiring a new item can lead to dissatisfaction with our existing possessions and inspire a desire for even more new things.
Employees make money inside a company and in the evening when they step out of that building, there are other businesses to soak that money.
The employee goes back to work tomorrow again and the capitalism persists!
Founders with profits would often pick a modest lifestyle, while at times employees with a restricted monthly income would go till last penny! The pressure of a seemingly 'perfect' life, shaped by social media, often has a significant impact.
Often the founders do the similar mistakes after receiving the funding. But, that’s too early for a celebration, because it’s someone else’s money given for a purpose.
Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath, puts it better:
I think raising funds through venture capital is like taking a loan. Do you celebrate just because someone around you took a loan? You don't, right?
If you, as a founder, take 10 crores from me, you have to return this 10 crores first before you see any money.
So that means the more money you raise, the more loan you're raising from the market. I think venture capital is, as I see it, a glorified loan, if you were to ask me.
In this context, philosophically speaking, when someone loses power, they realize who their real friends are and they're no longer surrounded by crowds like before.
Something changes when one steps down from a position of privilege—perhaps an acute sense of identity loss and the pain of time passing slowly in moments of failure.
Time proves again and again who’s truly in charge. This observation has completely transformed my philosophical outlook towards life, teaching me to stay grounded always.
This too shall pass—no matter what!