Get full access to one story every week, and to summaries of all other stories. Just create a free account

Revenant (noun), one who has returned, as if from the dead.

Have you watched Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar-winning performance in The Revenant?

Have you ever wondered what the title meant?

Well, the word “revenant” is from the French word “revenir”, meaning “to return”. In this case, it means to return as if from the dead.

From a startup perspective, this word is particularly interesting.

For one thing, it is probably applicable to a large number of startups. And for another, it has not one but two different meanings.

The first application is for startups that have been written off for dead but make a miraculous return. An inspirational phoenix-like resurgence that merits hosannas and emulation.

Take Slack, for example. Originally envisaged as a gaming startup, the company was on its deathbed when it decided to take a left-field punt on a small tool that it had developed for internal use and open it up as a platform for customers. To cut a long story short, the platform emerged as a category-defining workplace software and won rapturous praise and popularity on its way to a decacorn—a company valued at over $10 billion—level public listing.

The other meaning is at the polar end of the spectrum. There are few things more derogatory than this tag in startup lore.

Zombie.

Zombie startup.

In a land, where failures are ostensibly celebrated as much as success – for the sheer audacity of trying – being tagged a zombie is the ultimate pejorative.

Why so?

A zombie startup is an animated corpse – a walking dead that has outlived its natural existence but doesn’t want to accept death and therefore continues to linger on in a mindless, meaningless state. Stuck in a limbo where success is not possible but failure is not acceptable.

What is interesting is that there are some startups where both these meanings possibly apply.

Take Reverie Language Technologies, for instance.

A Bengaluru-based startup that offers local language technology solutions, Reverie has had a long and eventful journey before it was recently snapped by Reliance for a sum of $37 million.

There are folks in the startup ecosystem who see Reverie as a zombie startup – long stuck in a rut with little prospect of breaking out.

There are others who see it as having come back from the dead and celebrate the Reliance acquisition as the ultimate badge of success.

Which of these versions, if any, is a true representation of the company?

AUTHOR

Sumanth Raghavendra

Sumanth is a serial entrepreneur with more than eighteen years experience in running startups. He is currently the founder of Deck App Technologies, a Bangalore-based startup attempting to re-imagine productivity software for the Post-PC era. Sumanth’s columns appear regularly in leading publications. He holds MBA degrees from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, USA.

View Full Profile

Subscribe to read this story

The Ken is the only business subscription you need. Questions?

 

Premium

  • 5 original and reported longform business stories every week
  • Access to ONLY India edition
  • Close to 250 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to over 6 years of paywalled stories
  • Pick up to 5 premium subscriber newsletters
  • 4 original and reported longform business stories each week
  • Access to ONLY Southeast Asia edition
  • Close to 200 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to all paywalled stories since March 2020
  • Pick up to 5 premium subscriber newsletters

Rs. 2,750 /year

$ 120 /year

India Edition
Subscribe Subscribe
Most Asked For

Borderless

  • 8 original and reported longform business stories each week
  • Access to both India and Southeast Asia editions
  • Close to 400 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to over 6 years of paywalled stories across India and Southeast Asia
  • Unlimited access to all premium subscriber newsletters
  • Visual Stories

Rs. 4,200 /year

Subscribe
 

Echelon

  • 8 original and reported longform business stories each week
  • Access to both India and Southeast Asia editions
  • Close to 400 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to over 6 years of paywalled stories across India and Southeast Asia
  • Unlimited access to all premium subscriber newsletters
  • Visual Stories
  • Bonus annual gift subscription
  • Priority access to all new products and features

Rs. 8,474 /year

Subscribe
Or

Questions?

What kind of subscription plans do you offer?

We have three types of subscriptions
- Premium which gives you access to either the India or the Southeast Asia edition.
- Borderless which gives you complete access to The Ken across both editions
- Echelon which gives you complete access to The Ken across both editions along with a bonus gift subscription

What do I get if I subscribe?

The Premium edition gives you access to stories in that edition along with any five subscriber-only newsletters of your choice.

The Borderless and Echelon subscription gives you complete access to The Ken across editions and unlimited access to as many newsletters as you like.

What topics do you usually write about?

We publish sharp, original and reported stories on technology, business and healthcare. Our stories are forward-looking, analytical and directional — supported by data, visualisations and infographics. We use language and narrative that is accessible to even lay readers. And we optimise for quality over quantity, every single time.

Our specialised subscriber-only newsletters are written by our expert, award-winning journalists and cover a range of topics across finance, retail, clean energy, cryptocurrency, ed-tech and many more.

How many newsletters do you have?

We are constantly adding specialised subscriber-only newsletters all the time. All of these are written by our team of award-winning journalists on a specialised topic.

You can see the list of newsletters that we publish over here.

Does a Premium subscription to your Indian edition get me access to the Southeast Asia edition? Or vice-versa?

Afraid not. Each edition is separate with its own subscription plan. The India edition publishes stories focused on India. The Southeast Asia edition is focused on Southeast Asia. We may occasionally cross-publish stories from one edition to the other.

We recommend the Borderless or the Echelon Plan which will give you access to stories across both editions.

Do you have a mobile app?

Yes! We have a top-rated mobile app on both iOS and Android which allows you to read on-the-go and has some amazing features like the ability to bookmark stories, save on your device, dark mode, and much more. It’s really the best way to read The Ken.

Is there a free trial?

You can sign up for a free account to experience The Ken and understand our products better. We’ll send you some free stories and newsletters occasionally, and you can access our archive of previously published free stories. You can stay on the free account as long as you’d like.

The vast majority of our stories, articles and newsletters can be accessed only by a paid subscription.

Do you offer any discounts?

Sorry, no. Our journalism is funded completely by our subscribers. We believe that quality journalism comes at a price, and readers trust and pay us so that we can remain independent.

Do you offer refunds?

No. We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am facing some trouble purchasing a subscription. What can I do?

Just write to us at [email protected] with details. We’ll help you out.

I have a few more questions. How can I reach out to you?

Sure. Just email us at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter.