A new study of India’s startup ecosystem finds that nearly half of its people are struggling, and that the burden falls most heavily on employees rather than founders.
State of Mind: The Startup Ecosystem was initiated by Sheetal Bahl, Founder and Partner at Merak Ventures, and authored by Priyanka Kartari, Dr Sukhmani Pal and Dr Dilip Panniker. It was released ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10. Of 1,040 responses, 823 were retained after screening: 347 founders, 300 employees, 124 investors and 52 ecosystem supporters. Researchers measured well-being with an adapted version of the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, a five-item questionnaire on which a score of 50 or below is commonly used to flag low well-being.
Overall, 47.5% of respondents scored at or below that threshold. By group, that was 54.3% of employees, 45.2% of investors, 44.2% of ecosystem supporters and 42.9% of founders.
The report suggests the gap reflects how distress shows up. Founders reported the highest worry but also high energy and engagement, which can make them look resilient. Employees reported lower energy, interest and engagement without a matching rise in worry, a pattern the report says is easily mistaken for low motivation.
Safety to speak up matters most
Psychological safety was the factor most strongly linked to well-being. About 34.8% of respondents said they did not feel safe admitting they were struggling at work. Among employees who felt safe speaking up, 26.7% scored low. Among those who did not, the figure was 88.3%.
Workload also showed a clear gradient. Low well-being was seen in 37% of those working under 40 hours a week, 43% of those working 40–50 hours, and 51% of those working more than 50 hours.
Struggling, but not saying so
Of the 391 respondents who scored at or below the threshold, 35.3% described themselves as thriving or doing okay, and only 15.1% had sought professional help. Support seemed to help: 63.5% of those who coped entirely alone scored low, against 43.3% of those who involved someone else. Across all four groups, feeling rested was the lowest-scoring item, with only 15% to 18% reporting adequate rest.
