Parul Bhargava on the Dark Side of Entrepreneurship, Her Hardest Year & What Money Can’t Buy 💔✨

Your team can talk about work-life balance and mental health. As the founder, you can’t. 💔 That’s the dark side of entrepreneurship, and few founders say it out loud. 🎙️

In the latest episode of Inside A Hustler’s Brain, I continued my conversation with Parul Bhargava, founder of vCommission. This Part 2 goes beyond business into her personal life, the dark side of entrepreneurship and the sacrifices nobody sees. ✨

If you missed Part 1, read the untold story of vCommission and its 100K+ affiliates first. Parul and I go back a long way: here’s my first interview with her at India Affiliate Summit 2015, when I was still a newbie. 🙏

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• 🙏 A spiritual concert that changed her idea of concerts
• 💔 Losing her uncle and mentor to COVID
• 📉 2023: the year nothing went right
• 🩸 The sacrifice nobody notices
• 🕳️ The dark side of entrepreneurship
• 💰 Money, happiness and a private jet
• 📱 The privacy cost of social media
• 🎓 Her advice for Gen Z

🎥 Watch the full episode:

🙏 Gratitude, Spirituality and a Concert She’ll Never Forget

Parul calls her childhood “very, very blessed”, full of love from both sides of her family. ❤️ When I asked what she’s grateful for, she said: everything. Her parents, husband, child, family and business.

Her most memorable concert was a Radhika Das spiritual concert in Delhi. She’d always assumed concerts meant favourite songs, drinking and dancing. This one was singing and chanting. “We cried our hearts out,” she said, and it felt like a total detox. 🎶 At this stage of life, she says she’s leaning towards spirituality.

💔 Loss, and the Hardest Year

If she could bring one person back, it would be her bade papa (paternal uncle), whom she lost to COVID without being able to say goodbye in person. He was a mentor and one of her heroes. 🕊️

Her best year was the year she met her husband Tarun: “I could not have asked for a better partner.” 💑

Her worst was 2023. Usually something goes wrong while something else goes right. That year, nothing did: she was unwell, the business wasn’t doing well, family members were sick and her friend circle fell apart. 📉

Regrets? None. She sees those moments as learning points, and wouldn’t go back and change anything. Her friend circle has changed over the years, and she cherishes the one she has now. For another founder’s honest look at sacrifice, read Trackier’s Udit Verma on success, sacrifices and regrets. 🌱

🩸 The Sacrifice Nobody Sees

“As an entrepreneur, you give your company blood,” Parul said. Not just time and sweat. 🩸 People see the fancy side: running a company, travelling, and assumptions like “it’s your husband’s company.”

The unseen side is showing up on days you don’t want to, and making decisions that sacrifice personal goals because the company needs money right then. Today “entrepreneur” sounds glamorous, as if you just raise funding and run a company. But a real business person gives the company their life. 💼

I added my own experience: I’ve missed my parents’ birthdays because of work. Nobody talks about that part.

🕳️ The Dark Side of Entrepreneurship

This was the most powerful moment of the episode. Parul says the founder is treated like a non-existent person:

Everyone around you in your company can talk about work-life balance… emotional stability, psychological safety… their personal problems, but as an entrepreneur you can’t.

Parul Bhargava

If an employee says their child is unwell and they can’t deliver a project, the founder says okay. But if the founder can’t pay salaries on time because of a personal crisis, that’s unacceptable. If an employee complains, the company is blamed. If the founder raises their voice, the culture becomes “toxic”. 😔

“You’re just a bank,” she said. Salaries, benefits, leave, ergonomic chairs: you give everyone everything, and for yourself you get nothing. Nobody treats an entrepreneur like a person. That’s the dark side of entrepreneurship she wanted people to understand. For more on surviving the founder journey, read Chris Tzitzis on selling his agency and his life regrets. 💬

💰 Money, Happiness and Privacy

Does money buy happiness? To an extent, yes. She quoted a line she’d read: “Crying is not good, but if you can cry in your private jet, why not?” ✈️ But money can’t bring back people you’ve lost or give you the relationships you want. “Paisa zaroori hai” (money is important), but it depends on how you define happiness.

She and Tarun made their first million at 24. That was all she’d share on numbers. 😄 Her most recent “expensive” purchase was an automated bubble blower toy for her daughter from Dubai, which cost about 30-40 dirham. The joy it gave her, she said, couldn’t be matched by any Louis Vuitton bag or Mercedes. 🫧

On social media, the upside is visibility, love and business. The downside is privacy, which is why she stopped using Instagram. People use pictures with you without context, and expect meetings whenever you’re in their city. 📱

On negative reviews of vCommission, her team traces each one to see whether it’s genuine or a gimmick, such as a profile with only one review, and focuses on fixing real cases. ⭐

🚀 Elon Musk, AI and Bad Career Advice

With a day to spend with anyone, she’d choose Elon Musk, not for a podcast but for her own answers. She says she can relate to most entrepreneurs, but she just doesn’t understand his thinking, from naming his children to going from near-bankrupt to trillionaire. 🚀

On AI: it will replace many human tasks, but not humans. AI exists because humans want to use it. 🤖

The worst advice she hears: “Becoming an affiliate is easy,” “Becoming an entrepreneur is easy,” “Anyone can run a campaign,” and that affiliate marketing is a get-rich-quick scheme. ❌

Her two favourite quotes:

• 💼 Professional: “Work until you no longer have to introduce yourself.”
• 🕊️ Personal: “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours. If it does not, it never was.”

🎓 Parul’s Advice for Gen Z

Focus on learning and focus on what you’re getting out of a situation rather than how you are feeling about it.

Parul Bhargava

Breakthroughs come from uncomfortable situations, she said. If someone points out your mistake in a meeting, don’t dwell on feeling called out. Focus on how to fix it, because that’s what shapes your long-term career. She feels many Gen Z professionals focus on how they feel more than on how to improve the situation. 💡

How does she want to be remembered? As someone who was happy, helpful, clear on her purpose and content with the life she had. 💛

Want to reach her? Message her on LinkedIn or email. She replies personally (no AI), but a plain “hi, how are you?” might not get a response. 📩 For another inspiring woman founder’s story, read Kristina Mand-Lakhiani of Mindvalley.

📝 Key Takeaways From the Parul Bhargava Interview

• 🕳️ Founders carry everyone’s problems but rarely get space for their own
• 🩸 Entrepreneurship takes more than time: it takes personal sacrifice
• 📉 Bad years pass. Treat them as learning, not regret
• 💰 Money buys comfort, not the people you’ve lost
• 📱 Visibility costs privacy, so set boundaries
• 🎓 Focus on solving the situation, not on how it feels
• ❌ Affiliate marketing and entrepreneurship are not easy careers

❓ FAQs About Parul Bhargava

Who is Parul Bhargava?

Parul Bhargava is the founder of vCommission, one of India’s biggest affiliate networks with 100,000+ affiliates.

What does Parul Bhargava say is the dark side of entrepreneurship?

She says founders are treated as non-existent: everyone else can talk about work-life balance and personal problems, but founders are expected to always deliver, like a bank.

What was Parul Bhargava’s worst year?

She called 2023 her lowest phase: she was unwell, business wasn’t doing well, family members were sick and her friend circle fell apart.

When did Parul Bhargava make her first million?

She said she and her husband Tarun made their first million when they were both 24.

What is Parul Bhargava’s advice for Gen Z?

Focus on learning and on what you get out of a situation rather than how you feel about it, because breakthroughs come from discomfort.

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If this conversation with Parul Bhargava gave you even one idea, share it with a friend who needs it today. One conversation can change someone’s life. 💬

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