Yes, it’s sad to see that Stayzilla founder has been arrested and we totally condemn the way situation has turned out be (especially with those voodoo dolls and kids picture/family threat), there is the other side of the story and a few questions.
The other side of Stayzilla case..is another startup.
Jigsaw media agency has been executing Stayzilla’s airport ads (like the one you see below) since Stayzilla started its operations.
As per Jigsaw, Stayzilla owes Rs 1,56,32,992 to Jigsaw agency.
Stayzilla’s Sachit has no clear answer to the payment due date “when and how we are going to clear the payable”.
“These startups get funding, they spend carelessly, they live a hunky-dory life and keep our payments on hold, and then shut shop saying we don’t have money. People doing genuine business like us have to bear the brunt,”
“I AM NOT SCARED of their tantrums, my case is genuine and will fight it in the courts and I trust the courts.”, says Aditya CS, proprietor of Jig Saw Solution and Advertising / source : The News Minute.
Having said that, Aditya CS was openly asking people in Facebook’s Chennai shopping group about Voodoo dolls. Clearly, not an easy coincidence?
Stayzilla shutdown : Few questions
Stayzilla suddenly announced that it is rebooting operations and hasn’t refunded the money to customers who booked from them (more here and here).
When you shutdown a company, the first thing investors should do is to clear off all the pending payment. Not sure whether it was done properly in this case.
Stayzilla founding team, going by the above conversations should have given a proper timeline for payment. The last thing you want to see is this becoming another ‘AskMe’.
This is the least I’d expect from investors and founders.
Of course, what has happened is UGLY. If everything boils down to ‘I know <X> in police / politics’, then don’t expect startups to thrive in this country; and is nothing but gundaraj (plus, can we be clear over civil vs criminal charges?)
But it’s also time for all of us to look within and see what sort of startup ecosystem are we really trying to build.
Image credit : 1, 2
http://www.nextbigwhat.com/stayzilla-yogi-update-297/
