CEO spends ₹96 lakh a year for roles that bring ‘zero revenue’, shares why

Many founders view hiring strictly through the lens of immediate ROI, prioritising roles that bring in direct revenue. However, a CEO is challenging this mindset revealing that he spends ₹8 lakhs every month on employees who don’t bring in a single rupee. shifting his perspective on “support roles,” he argues that the real cost isn’t the salary paid, but the founder’s time lost to adminrative clutter.Chandigarh-based founder and CEO Pratham Jindal. (LinkedIn/Pratham Jindal)Chandigarh-based founder and CEO Pratham Jindal wrote, “I pay ₹8 lakhs every month to people who don’t bring in a single rupee for Praper. Before you think I’ve lost my mind, hear me out. There are two types of hires you’ll make as a founder: 1. Revenue roles. 2. Support roles.”Also Read: Bengaluru CEO hails school for teaching financial literacy to his 6-year-old son: ‘UPI, BHIM, savings’In the rest of the LinkedIn post, he explained his reasoning. “Revenue roles include editors, designers, salespeople – they directly make the business money, so every founder prioritises them. The ROI is visible. But when it comes to support roles like HR, admin, IT, founder’s office, content and office operations – most founders hesitate. Nobody looks at them and says: ‘This person made us ₹20 lakhs this quarter.’ So founders keep delaying those hires. And I’ve been guilty of that too.”Jindal continued, “Until I realised I was spending hours every week on things like:-Handling payroll issues -Coordinating interviews -Following up with vendors -Approving invoices at 11 p.m.”How did he handle the issues?The entrepreneur shared a simple formula. “So I came up with a simple way to know when it’s time to bring them in: Write down every task you handle in a week. Next to each one, note how much time it takes. If your l is eating up 8-10 hours per week, it’s time to hire for the support roles. Because your biggest resource isn’t money. It’s your time and bandwidth.”He concludes the post saying, “That’s why I no longer see those ₹8 lakhs as an expense.” The CEO also posted a picture of himself along with a text insert that read: “I pay ₹96L/year for roles that bring in zero revenue. And I don’t regret it at all.”How did social media react?An individual wrote, “For most early founders, it’s recruitment coordination. It quietly eats 6-8 hours a week, feels urgent every time, but never feels important enough to hire for. Until it’s too late.” Another posted, “The hardest hires to justify are always the ones that make everything else work quietly in the background. Nobody celebrates the HR person who fixed payroll. But everyone feels it when payroll breaks at month’s end.”Also Read: ‘We are not warriors’: Founder shares team’s Slack-based ‘grind, normal, survival’ modes to prevent burnoutA third commented, “Builders create scalable growth, while support sustains the system around it. That’s why companies often see them differently in the value chain and outsource support first. Controversial, maybe, but leverage and necessity aren’t always rewarded equally.”A fourth expressed, “So true, having worked in admin, I’ve seen firsthand how much mental energy founders waste on tasks that could be easily delegated. It’s not just about the 8–10 hours saved, it’s about the stress removed so you can focus on the big picture.”