The unofficial operating system of every early-stage dream.

When survival needs sewing skills more than strategy skills.

________________________________________

The Story

At EcoSpire Foods, a climate-tech startup in Bangalore, the CTO Mohan, 33, proudly says,

“We are agile.”

What he means is:

they have no HR head,

no onboarding process,

no documented roles,

and all job descriptions exist only in WhatsApp chats.

When the website developer quit, the intern from Pune became “temporary tech support.”

When the sustainability analyst fell sick, the founder’s cousin handled ESG compliance.

The office admin also managed procurement.

The marketing lead wrote investor decks.

The sales trainee handled customer complaints and social media.

A patch here, a patch there —

a quilt of survival stitched every morning.

Across the world in Lisbon, GreenFlux Mobility, an EV startup, looks glamorous from the outside.

Sleek office. Cool branding.

But behind the scenes, systems were held together with:

Google Sheets,

temporary freelancers,

late-night calls,

borrowed templates,

and emergency WhatsApp groups with names like “URGENT FIX !!!”.

Their sustainability report?

A patchwork of Canva slides, half-finished data, and last-minute copy-pasting.

One employee joked,

“Our biggest product is duct tape.”

Startups don’t grow in straight lines.

They grow in zigzags held together by hope, hurry, and homemade fixes.

________________________________________

What This Reveals About Work Relations

Patchwork is not incompetence.

Patchwork is the honest reality of early-stage building.

But the problem starts when patchwork becomes:

• permanent

• normalized

• glorified

• unexamined

• unquestioned

• used to delay real systems

• used as an excuse for burnout

• used to hide leadership gaps

Patchwork cultures create:

• heroes instead of teams

• chaos instead of clarity

• speed instead of stability

• burnout instead of balance

• improvisation instead of intention

The future of work requires patchwork ONLY as a temporary bridge, not a permanent business model.

Because companies held together by patches eventually fall apart at the seams.

________________________________________

Visual Symbol Idea

A corporate suit jacket stitched with colourful mismatched fabric patches.

Looks quirky and charming — but clearly fragile.

Caption:

“Every startup begins as patchwork. The mistake is staying there.”

________________________________________

Interactive Poll Idea

What’s the biggest patchwork in your workplace right now?

• HR processes

• Onboarding

• Customer support

• Internal communication

• All of the above

After vote:

Patchwork is fine — until it becomes permanent.