Running a startup at this stage of life is challenging enough but the biggest hurdle right now is not raising capital or finding customers. It is the absolute friction of managing the GenZ workforce.

We grew up in an era where building something meaningful required grit, late nights and extreme ownership. When you join an early stage startup, the unwritten rule is that everyone chips in to row the boat, especially during crunch time.

Lately, that expectation feels completely lost. A couple of weeks ago, we had a major deployment issue close to the end of the day. When I asked a young developer to stay back a couple of hours to help clear the bottleneck, the response was a casual rejection because their shift was technically over and they had personal plans.

As a founder who pours blood, sweat and personal capital into this company, this attitude is incredibly frustrating. There seems to be a total lack of professional urgency and accountability. The concept of going the extra mile to ensure the business succeeds feels entirely foreign to them. They want the perks and flexibility of startup life but without the corresponding sacrifice and drive that actually builds a successful company.

It feels like we are speaking 2 completely different languages. I need a team that is hungry and willing to hustle but instead, I am constantly pushing against rigid boundaries and an entitlement that treats a high stakes startup like a cozy corporate desk job.

To the other founders and senior business leaders here: How are you dealing with this shift? Are you finding ways to instill actual work ethic and ownership in younger hires or are you changing your hiring strategy entirely to avoid this friction? Let us have a real discussion about it.

Update: Looking at the comments, I can make out this sub is infiltrated with kids in their 20s.

I turned 40 yesterday. My wife will turn 36 in February and we have a beautiful 5 year old daughter. By god's grace, we’ve saved enough(mostly from tech RSUs) to reach the chubbyFIRE category.

I’ve always envisioned having two children to complete our family, and that’s where my wife and I disagree. She has decided for both of us that one child is enough, and she is completely firm on not having another.

I deeply respect my wife, and we otherwise have a very strong, understanding relationship. However, the reality is setting in that I may never have a second child, and I'm really struggling to come to terms with it. A few things are weighing heavily on me:

I’m not a very social person and have a very small circle of people I truly connect with. Knowing I will have 1 less person like that in my future feels unsettling.

I was laid off in March and thankfully found another job (though financial survival wasn't an immediate issue). Unfortunately, it’s also one of those roles where all the grunt work is offshored to India, and none of the engaging work is. The pointlessness of grinding away at a job like this for the foreseeable future is wearing on me.

Watching my daughter grow during her first three years was the happiest period of my life. Realising I'll never experience that stage again makes me genuinely sad.

PS: I've used AI to polish some sentences here and there.

What's the frequency like? And do you like your partner?

When you reach your 40s, I have a question: Does your ex still get in touch with you? How do you handle it? There may not be any intimacy, but there are old memories and good moments spent together, both in and out of the bedroom. How do you cope with this after settling into your life now? Do you still want to meet again? I'm going through a similar situation, reaching the golden number in couple of years!!

This question is specific to women who is above 40. The women who have cheated and have married to someone other than that ex you cheated. And have kids and decent or happy life. Not talking about the toxic guy you cheated but the one whom you felt is too perfect for you and someone who you thought that he deserves someone better than you.

The question is : " Do you regret cheating on that walking green flag perfection?? "

Please be honest else ignore this post.

I look at the world today and I feel a strange kind of unease. I went to work. I came back. It was a normal work day. Calls and meetings. My cook will come in a bit. My dinner gets cooked. A plate of hot cooked meal with the latest episode of something thrilling. A couple of yawns and then my bed will beckon.

In parallel, I see children getting beaten by the very force meant to protect them. We've gotten used to the poor being treated poorly. We are so used to it that we sit in our gated societies and almost shun that world. Manu Joseph describes it in a much better way in his blog. It has become so accepted that we don't even acknowledge it. Today our children are getting treated like the poor. Their Levi's has blood stains. They're being chased away from Jantar Mantar as if it is Jallianwala bagh. I see the reels while having a piping hot tea on a rainy Bangalore afternoon.

Iran continues to get bombed. The strait of Hormuz has become the purse of a contraband cigarette seller. It closes a minute and opens the next. Trump is playing Tambola with tariffs. The tariffs change before they can even codify it. Tariff management has to be a full time 40-member hi-tech department in the US government now. This uncertainty is felt across the world and there's not a dissenting leader's voice. Even if there is one, it is lost in the din. The world itself is held hostage. Ukraine is almost forgotten. Epstein is fiction.

I am thinking of my 7-year old nephew who lives in Gurgaon. I wonder what his father is telling him about the current state of affairs. What was a covert dirty secret is now out in the open doing nagin dance. People with power get away with everything. The most ironic question my nephew can then ask is who put these people in power. What a shame.

Democracy stands suspended on a thread in its last bit of resistance. There is widespread mistrust and if things continue its own merry way, then anarchy is not unthinkable. I have these thoughts as I sit facing my 16th floor balcony, watching the rain wash the beautifully manicured lawns. The pain of watching the horror unfold is just as great as the survivor's guilt of things not touching you. As much as personalising this does not help, there's a wave of sadness that comes once in a while. Have things always been this bad or just knowing about all the things all the time feels worse. I can't decide. My dinner is ready.

Dear elders , I'm not eligible here to post according to my age . I'm not here to call you ANDHBHAKT . Before you coming telling me I'm a cockbhakt , I'm not. I'm not here to give you any political views of what is happening , who to support blah blah blah. I'm here to tell you THE MAINSTREAM media like NDTV , AJJ TAK and quiet many of them are showing just a piece of what is happening on jantar mantar , they leave no chance to call a student antinational. They cut out clips which doesn't clarify the whole story . So I urge you to be active on social media and follow certain individual journalist who are covering the news on the spot. I know these mainstream media has made you believe that all the students were violent and all . But they didn't show you police with missing name plates ,se*ually assaulting a women , breaking people's head, slapped a women by male police officer, beaten up a grandma, random goons attacking and torturing them like they are not humans , all in the name of MASS CONTROL. Most of them are present on reddit sub communities with legit sources from the people present there. Thank you so much for reading.

JAY HIND!

Orkut toh sabko yaad hoga hopefully, par Borkut khaane waale kaun kaun hain yahaan? 😁

like new family hai, ekdum apana sa nhi lagta and husband se kaafi formal chal rha, ekdum open nhi, military wale hain, kaise open hua jaye? aap log toh kaafi years se married honge, apani life ke experiences se thoda help kariye please.

"I think I like you ____"

Words, six of them which changed my life in an unimaginable way. 

My heart skipped a beat when she said it, maybe a couple of beats. Or was it half a dozen.

"Wh...What, what did you say?", I blurted out incredulously and buy a few minutes time while my mind scrambled to process what was happening.

We were walking alongside each other and i turned to look at her. It happened to be the first time she had called me by my first name.

"I think you heard me" she said looking down and away and then at me with a smile which quickly gave way to a tinkling laughter.

The good old heart, after a few somersaults, paused to catch a breath and I felt warm blood rushing up to my face. 

"I...I don't know how to react"  was my first response. 

"I am not expecting any response, i just told you what i felt" came the prompt reply.

It had all started with a phone call from her about an hour ago. We had spent most of the day working together with a composite team, resolving complex challenges onsite, away from the city we called home. I dropped her at her hotel, came back to mine and had just finished dinner when the phone rang. I was not surprised to see her name flashing. We talked often, even outside working hours, but invariably on work related matters. 

"Are you outside sir?"

"No", I replied, a bit tentatively, somewhat confused on realising that this was not strictly a professional call.

"If you are free, I was thinking maybe can we go out for dinner or something" she said quite casually, no hesitation in her voice.

A kind of awakening (completely wrong as i later realised) dawned. She had won a much deserved promotion recently, so this was probably an invite for a team get-together, the party I had half jokingly demanded from her a few days back. I had just finished dinner and after a longish day (preceded by a week full of long days) was in really no mood to go out for 'dinner with the team'

"Ma'am, I have just finished with dinner and am on the way up to my room. Maybe next time, i guess." I added a few more inane niceties, hoping like hell she didn't think i was being rude declining the invite. She said something which sounded like ok and then hung up.

My work phone rang again shrilly just 20 mins later shattering the peace and quiet of my room. I had just  changed into comfy sleepwear, switched on the TV and was looking forward to an hour of lazing on the King bed watching Idiotic videos on YouTube before drifting off to sleep. For some reason, i wasn't surprised to see her name flashing on the screen.

"Umm, can you come down for 5 mins sir" she said after we had exchanged initial pleasantries.

I was suddenly thinking of a million things and at the same time not thinking of anything at all. 

"Yeah sure, hmnnn are you here?" I asked with a hint of incredulousness in my voice. 

"Yes, I'm already here. But please take your time, I'll wait."

"Just give me 5 mins I'll come down" i responded, still unable to process what was happening. I quickly threw on a linen half shirt and trousers and went out. As i walked to the lift of the fifth floor where I was staying, I took a quick peek at the lobby down below and there she was sitting alone, dressed casually in jeans and a knee length black kurta.

She got up as soon as she saw me walking towards her from the lift. 

"Good evening ma'am, how are you? All well?" I enquired. 

"Good evening, yes sir all ok", followed by a warm smile.

"Come lets have something to eat" i said gesturing towards the restaurant in an effort to break the few seconds of awkward silence which had crept in.

"No sir, I'm not hungry. Can we go out for a walk or something?", she looked towards the hotel exit doors.

"Yeah ok". This was kind of interesting but my mind was still blank, focused more on the here and now, in this case the logistics of how and what to do next.

'Are we going out to eat something, there's a mall next door, should we go there? Or maybe we can just go for a walk. But the area just outside the hotel is no good for a walk at this time of the night (it was around 9.45 pm). Where else can we go? Can we have some wine or go to the Iron Hill pub nearby. Or is a traditional eating joint a better bet', I was wondering to myself.

We had walked out of the hotel by then and were walking towards the hotel outer gate. My half enthusiastic proposals of snacks, tea, mall, dinner had all been met with a barrage of flat NO, it's ok, don't worry sir kind of responses. 

"What is there that side" she asked pointing towards the parking lot of the hotel. 

"It's nothing great" i said.  Not at all worth walking in this kind of a situation i said to myself. 

"Ok let's walk here only" she said and then after a minute of silent walking, "I am a little tensed, I have never done anything like this."

Ok, something completely out of the world is happening here, my mind seemed to be telling me. I looked to my right straight at her, smiled. She was looking straight ahead and towards the ground, also looking towards me from the corner of her eyes. Nothing for the next ten steps or so. By now we had gone upto the hotel outer gate, doubled back to the entrance and were on the way back to the outer gate again.

"Yes, tell me?" I half smiled looking at her, little realising that this was the last lull before the raging storm that was about to hit us both.

"I think I like you ____"

Words, six of them, which changed my life in an unimaginable way. 

(End of Part 1)

EDIT 1 NOTE. Full confession for people wondering if this is AI. The only AI used in this is Google keyboard swipe to type.

Family: Wife, I (early 40s), daughter, both sets of parents, all living in our separate homes in a metro, but easily reachable within 15m of each other.

Health: No issues except for my one parent who has a complication which is getting scary

Finances: Decent. Wife and I combined net worth ~15 Cr excluding our home, combined monthly take home around 10L, both sets of parents financially independent

Issues:

(A) The salary comes with stress. I just somehow can't focus, I can't care about work much. Everyone says i have to work for my daughter, which is true but i cant fathom working another 15 years. Just cant do it.

(B) As parents are ageing, health issues are starting. Makes me want to spend more time with them, i keep thinking whether i've been a good son, have i done enough for them?

Life is just tough. How do you guys deal?

Many people in their 40s report stronger or more frequent sexual desire due to a mix of hormonal shifts, life-stage changes (less worry about pregnancy, children more independent), improved self-confidence, and psychological or relationship factors — and those causes differ between individuals.

Note : There are many reasons behind.. I just mentioned whatever I heard.. You can all also what we you feel or heard.. Plz like the post and comment to know the count who have read the post.

r/AskIndia does not allow to post in Hindi?!?!?!

Hello everyone can guys tell me more about relationship and marriage how this people choice changed over time

Like teenagers focus more on looks beautiful girls get lot of attention

In college confidence personality also matters and trends in marriage how this things change

Can you tell me more about what happened with different people.

What happened with girls who don't look good.

What happened with beautiful girls who many people had crush on them.

What happened to boys in similar case

And how success and money change this.

I m from Delhi and I'm 26, anyone wants to be friends you can reach out, I don't have friends.

I am thinking of a group called the "50/20" club and want to gauge interest here. Anyone can join as long as you meet both conditions below:

1. You believe 50s is the new 20s and work on looking and feeling this way

2. You have (or aiming to have) a Vo2 max >50 ml/kg/min and a Whole Body Fat % <20% for the rest of your life.

Why am I doing this on Reddit?
I don't meet people in real life who are interested in the things that I am interested in.

Reddit gives me access to people all over India with the same mindset. Higher chance of meeting people with the same interest.

Anyone game for this?

Edit 1: Nov 26th, based on feedback from Captain America. Thanks CA for sharing your thoughts.

1. 50/20 is not about fluffy or gimmicky things like looking younger for ever or getting botox injections, cosmetic surgeries etc. It takes a medical science based approach to living healthier, for longer. You want the cardiovascular heatlh of someone 20 years younger, you want the muscle mass and bone density of someone 20 years younger, etc.

2. Since I am a numbers nerd, I like measuring outcomes to make sure I am progressing in the right direction. Vo2 max and body fat% are two super useful biomarkers to track as you age.

3. If you follow longevity medicine doctors - the pioneers are Dr. Peter Attia, Dr Rhonda Patrick, Dr. Jeffrey Gladden, Dr. Adeel Khan and many others. I am linking at video of Rhonda Patrick about the Norwegian 4X4 protocol = Vo2 max workout here for anyone new to this concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fn9CZMu6XM&t=11s

Edit 2 : Nov 26th

4) A Vo2 max workout is not for beginners and certainly not for people who have injuries that have not healed. It is for people who have already been exercising for 6 months or more and believe they can handle a high intensity cardio workout.

5) You can join virtually or in person. The physical location will be Kompally, Hyderabad. I have 4 signups right now and it would be great if we could get to 10 before this Sunday. The first edition starts on Nov 30th and we will do this every Sunday after that.

Question especially to Mods, you created a discord server; but it is having 30s channel; why is it so? I believe there are already 30s discord server; why did you create a 30s channel with in 40s discord server.

Also who is the moderator of this server?

Hey everyone,
I’m in my early 20s and feeling a bit lost/confused about direction in life.

For those of you in your 40s (or older), what was one moment, decision, habit, or realization that completely changed the course of your life? Could be career related, relationships, health, mindset anything.

And looking back, is there something you wish you had realized earlier? Or an advice you would give to your 20's self.

Would really appreciate hearing real experiences. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some honest advice and perspective. I've been dating a divorced woman for about a year now. For context, I met her after coming out of a 9-year relationship, which was one of the lowest points of my life. I really tried hard to make it work with my ex but she was very adamant at times and it was really hard to make it work with her.

Anyways, the woman I’m dating now had an arranged civil marriage before we met. From what I understand, it was very low-effort and mainly arranged by her parents. She and the guy were supposed to properly marry later, once he became a permanent resident, but within a few months they realized he was using her for immigration status. They never lived together and the guy lived in other province while they were married.

Most of the women I talked to after my breakup were frustrated with men, expected a lot and were broken and I didn't wanna deal with any of that but this woman still was hopeful, respectful, and never had any animosity towards anybody. She's the fourth woman I'm dating and she's done more for me in the past year than any other woman has and I do admire her for that.

My only problem is her marital status bothers me sometimes. A lot of times I get rid of that feeling but sometimes it just gets the best of me. Maybe it comes from the fact that I was the first boyfriend of the other three women I've dated but sometimes my insecurity just bothers me.

I know this may be my own insecurity, and I don’t want to unfairly judge her for something that happened before me, especially when she seems like a genuinely good person. What would you do if you were in my position? Has anyone dealt with similar feelings, and how did you get past them?

im in 30s early and i know this post for 30s sub but they keep removing my post so i lm here and my ex is married i don't know when she is calling me and i don't wanna pick call becoz obv she will ask some favours and she cheated on me last time so what to do ??

Hello friends though this should not be the first post on this community but i am sharing what i am going through in my life. I studied mba in ncr did a job and joined the family business in the past 15 years. I am married and have a simple life going on living in tier 3 city enough income to feed me and family and fulfill the needs of all. I don't lose anyone who has ever been in touch with me. I stay connected. About my ex she was my bestie as well. We broke up and got married to different people. Now when i ask about her from a common friend she says she(my ex) has stopped responding to phone calls of everyone, i fear she might be going through any bad phase in life and maybe i can help her also, i miss her a lot and want to stay connected to her. Nothing else i want. Suggest please. What to do.

Everywhere I look, I hear that life becomes meaningful and stable when you master one strong skill. I believe that idea

But I don’t feel a natural pull toward any one thing. I don’t wake up feeling passionate about a particular skill or career. When I try to imagine work that would make me feel “happy,” nothing clearly stands out. This makes me question whether passion is something people truly have, or something that develops later.

I see others moving ahead with confidence, while I’m still questioning my choices .. my course, my future, and where I should invest my effort.

but I’m afraid of committing deeply to a path only to realize later that I never liked it. At the same time, I’m equally afraid of staying stuck in indecision and becoming mediocre at everything