Myntra ex-CFO Prabhakar Sunder’s guide to hiring the hustler for your start-up

The founding team is the be-all and end-all of a budding startup. However, most founders end up looking for hustlers in all the wrong places - recruiting sites, LinkedIn, Job boards and what not. Fine sites as these might be, people here may not always look forward to your grind.

Enter Prabhakar Sunder. He has had seven years of experience at Myntra. He worked closely with Mukesh Bansal to shape the company, which was then sold to Flipkart at over $300 million. Besides finance, Sunder also headed the commercial and legal functions at Flipkart, with responsibilities including handling the strategic and corporate finance. The guy has over 9 years of experience with audit firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte.

“I was in the Big 4, a comfortable corporate setup for 8-9 years. It took me a while to realize that while the money was good, I wasn’t growing”, Sunder smiles today. He is a true blue hustler, heading finance for online marketplace Voonik. He’ll also help them raise funds. I ask him what to look for if you want to hire a hustler.

“Focus on a person’s inner personality. It’s very difficult to change a person upside-down”, Sunder says. Look for people who have the emotional and mental blueprint of a hustler. This type of person typically doesn’t want to do a 9 to 5 job and earn a fat cheque for nothing. They usually have other goals and aspirations in life.


Help them view the job at your startup as a step that’ll bring them closer to achieving their long term goal/s. Several startup hustlers have founder aspirations.

Sunder thinks that’s an absolute necessity. “There needs to be some entrepreneurship spirit. You can further nurture it as the person grows in their career. The most important aspect is the ability to take risks. If the person is very risk-averse, startups aren’t the right place for them.”

Give them a chance to grow in your organization with their natural ‘hustle power’, and they’ll come. It’s also important to be coachable, i.e. willing to listen and learn, and willing to try new methods.

Sunder says it’s important to be able to handle critical feedback. “You need to see failure as a stepping stone, and not a full stop. It’s all about learning from mistakes.”

These are the key questions you need to ask yourself:
· Are they ambitious?
· Are they entrepreneurial?
· Are they willing to do what it takes?
· Do they enjoy communicating?
· Can they handle rejection well?

The most critical question - where do you find startup sales hustlers!
The best place to look for these people is always your inner network - friends, family, acquaintances or fellow founders.

Last word, hire for attitude, not experience.

BI Tip: The good ones are too good to be out of work.