Start-ups aim to break ‘Madras’ stereotypes

To break this image, Chargebee, a start-up in the city has launched a campaign #ChennaiBeyondStereotypes.

From being considered as ‘too hot always’ to being ‘too traditional’ for the Gen Y, several stereotypes constantly stop youngsters from working in Chennai. Instead of talking about the negatives of other cities and positives of Chennai, the initiative takes up to a feel-good approach about how every city has different narratives and one has to look beyond them to discover the real essence.

“We have an exciting start-up ecosystem with the likes of Chargebee, Freshworks, Madstreet Den, etc. and so many more giving the city terrific potential. But we really struggle to attract employees from up north due to stereotypes. We constantly have examples of people who are pleasantly surprised – and even impressed – when they come here and discover the city is so amazing! There are several ex-founders of start-ups working with us right now, and some of us came together to dispel the notion with this idea,” says Krish Subramanian, CEO of Chargebee.

They launched a video and a website as the first leg of this campaign on the occasion of Madras Walk that hosted people talking about what impressed them the most about the city. Within a couple of days, it was trending on social media. “We want more people to engage with the website and submit stories,” he adds.

There are other companies doing their bit to dispel stereotypes too during Madras Week, such as Freshworks who released a video earlier this week, ‘Come Back to Madras’ asking youngsters who have moved outside the city or India – to come back ‘home’ and extols the different unique virtues of the city. Furthermore, they have also launched a website, madeinmadras.in, where people are requested to submit their favourite Madras memory as a tribute to the city.