Zoho's Sridhar Vembu's Advice To Those Starting Business: 'Face Rejection'

Zoho co-founder and ex-CEO Sridhar Vembu has caught social media's attention after sharing a blunt piece of advice for those looking to venture into business. In an X (formerly Twitter) post on Wednesday (Aug 26), Vembu stated that engineers, scientists, and doctors who were in the transition phase to become business owners needed to face rejection head-on to understand how humans and real life worked.

Vembu advised this cohort to go on a lot of sales calls, as there was no business without selling. By putting yourself out, Vembu believed that people could learn about themselves and the business.

"If you are an engineer or scientist or doctor turning to business, the first thing I would suggest is, 'Please go on a lot of sales calls, face rejection if necessary, but persist,'" wrote Vembu.

Expanding on his advice, Vembu explained that the experience would help individuals hone their communication skills and become better at the job.

"You will develop better communication skills as you realise that explaining your ideas is not so easy. You will develop respect for sales people. You may even become good at business!" he said.

"There is no such thing as a business without selling something. Sometimes the most obvious thing has to be said!"

Check The Viral Post Here:

If you are an engineer or scientist or doctor turning to business, the first thing I would suggest is "Please go on a lot of sales calls, face rejection if necessary, but persist".

You will develop better communication skills as you realise that explaining your ideas is not so…

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) August 26, 2026

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'Biggest Learning'

As the post went viral, social media users agreed with Vembu's assessment, highlighting that sales taught humility and patience, two important virtues for an entrepreneur looking to make it big.

"True, sir, the rejection will bring us humility and patience. Importantly, it will change our thought process for success," said one user while another added: "This has been my biggest learning in 10+ years of B2B tech sales, a role that happened to me by sheer chance, after four years of being a coder."

A third commented: "Agree completely. I ran a restaurant before I ran anything technical, and taking orders from unhappy customers taught me more about explaining an idea than any deck ever did."

A fourth said: "I once had to argue with a bunch of students at IIT that products don't sell by themselves just because they are good. (Corollary is that the product is unlikely to be good if you haven't interacted with potential customers). Most basic things have to be repeated."