Not flexible work hours or casual Fridays, Pepperfry & Nykaa founders credit an intense work culture for success

The founders of Pepperfry and Nykaa credit an intense work culture for the success of their respective companies.

When it comes to the startup culture, it is often referenced with stereotypical benefits: flexible work hours, a large floor office space with unconventional furniture and millennials in Friday casuals typing away on their computers. But at Pepperfry and Nykaa, it’s total commitment to work that drives the organisational culture. “I think if there is one word that defines our culture, it’s intensity,” said Pepperfry’s Ambareesh Murthy at a recent tech and entrepreneurship conference in Mumbai.

“We are a company that is super proud of the fact that we are not, and we use this term quite openly, a lalu chaapu company.”


Speaking on a panel with Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar, Murthy said, “We are not a company that gives you free food or that’s okay with people working from home. We’re not a company that allows folks to turn up at 11.30-12 pm and leave at 6.30-7 pm because they have to go walk the dog. We’re a company that is all about getting work done and being entirely committed to Pepperfry,” he said.

It’s a sentiment that Nayar agreed with. “I think for most startups, total commitment to work, a lot of hard work is quite necessary,” she said.

According to Nayar, their ‘working Saturday’ policy had a reverse selection effect where employees who weren’t as committed and who didn’t want to work Saturdays eventually dropped out. Both founders rated total commitment to work much higher than factors normally associated with startups. While Nayar credited a young, millennial culture where employees aren’t afraid of asking questions or contradicting their boss for the company’s success, Murthy said the ideals that currently define his company are : courage (asking the right questions), learning agility and foremost, intense work culture.