A takeaway from Rahul Yadav’s latest fiasco

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Editor's note: Earlier this week, I wrote about Rahul Yadav’s proptech venture 4B Networks which has now come undone. Its majority investor, the publicly listed classifieds firm Info Edge, has written off the company and the business is completely in the doldrums. I wrote about everything that went wrong with 4B Networks—the flawed business model, operational issues and the excessive cash burn. (Read “How Rahul Yadav bungled Info Edge-funded 4B Networks”) In the unraveling of this venture, there are many lessons for both startup founders and investors. But there is one thing I feel should be talked about more—the employees, who are always a casualty of the mistakes made by the founders and investors. After the 4B Networks story this week, I received messages from a mix of desperate current and former employees. There is despair in their messages and absolute helplessness in their voices. One is of course because they haven’t received their salaries in three months. And they haven’t really gotten a clear word from the management. In an email sent on 19 January with the subject line “We are …