CRED Founder Controversy: Social Media Users Upset Over ‘Mediocre Friends’ Remarks

CRED founder Kunal Shah sparked outrage by suggesting successful people avoid having "mediocre" friends, drawing backlash for judging the worth of friendships.

This week, Kunal Shah, the founder of credit card payment application CRED, provoked outrage on social media by stating that people who have achieved success do not have ‘average’ friends.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on May 25th, Shah wrote "Mediocre people often have a clear tell: they usually associate with other subpar individuals, most likely because the A+ individuals exclude them. "

The statement sparked a lot of anger on social media where people accused Shah of arrogance and elitism, for ‘grading’ people’s worth based on their friends. Many comments criticized the notion of evaluating the worth of friends based on such a criterion.

“Some of us don’t give friends grades,” a commenter said, while another said, “Often friends are just friends. ”

Another person to chime in was celebrity photographer Joseph Radhik who said “Live a little, Kunal, and think a little less, perhaps. An incredibly full life can be lived by both a mediocre, an A+ person, and every type of stupid definition in between. ”

As the outrage grew, Shah’s post received over a million views, illustrating how his words resonated with people. Friendship is usually defined as the relationship people actively build for themselves, in contrast to the familial one. To many, grading the worth of friends seemed to lack the importance of friendships that people hold dearly.

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As of the time of writing this article, Shah has not replied to the criticism, but the incident shows that comments from business magnates can set off controversies when they are considered condescending or insensitive to the general public’s lifestyle.