I saw a LinkedIn post from someone, and she had shared a story of one of her friends who was a startup founder and how difficult it had gotten to a point where the money was almost burnt, he wasn't able to raise anymore, and his startup was slowly dying. I felt something about it and thought of writing something on it.

We as a society, not just Indian society but any society or culture for that matter, are goal-obsessed, and I get it. Ultimately, what matters is: did a person or a team succeed or not? But that's true only to an extent.

I feel courage should be celebrated. Society is formed by us and no one else. We are society, and we are culture, and it's time we start questioning this outcome-oriented judgement. It’s unfair to reduce a person’s, a team’s, multiple families’ sacrifices, hopes, and dreams to ultimately being called a failure.

No, the person or the team is not a failure. A group of people in the prime time of their careers, making a decision to leave a full-time job to work on their startup—that’s not a small thing. And I’m not even talking about the internal struggles each person in the team might be going through. Someone might be supporting their family financially, someone else might be dealing with parents not allowing it and facing ugly arguments at home. Someone might be questioning if they’re good enough, wondering how to make it work. Not everybody has clarity or a concrete idea from the beginning. On someone's shoulders rests the job of the entire team and each of their careers respectively.

Dealing with all this, and yet being brave and courageous enough to choose this path and actually make it happen, that requires true courage and confidence. Don’t you think that should be respected and appreciated, regardless of the outcome of the startup?

One of the ideologies of Krishna teaches us to focus on actions, not results. Then why, as a society, do we only see success stories as a source of inspiration? Success stories bloom out of countless failure stories.

An entrepreneur or a founder gets an idea, builds a team, builds the product—not just for monetary benefits, influence, or fame but because society benefits from it too. Someone once thought it would be great if each person had a personal computer, and now it has become a part of our daily lives. Because of computers and the internet, so many people have built and are still building businesses that impact countless lives and have the potential to change the lives of future generations. Then why do we not support those who are doing it for the benefit of society as well? I do understand that money can be a primary concern, but money and value go hand in hand. Money can't exist without an exchange of value. So if money is present, it means value must be present too. And ultimately, that value benefits society.

I feel if we start appreciating, not just startup founders but anyone who is putting in any amount of effort to achieve something, if we start appreciating their efforts instead of judging them based on their outcomes, we’ll do better as human beings. By appreciation, I don’t mean fake or forced positivity. If you think someone can improve in some way and increase their chances of achieving what they want, helping them out would be a good thing to do. That would be your way of supporting them.

If we can make support and appreciation a part of our culture, then we can generate better entrepreneurs and better people overall.

Fortune favours the bold, society should too.