boAt co-founder Aman Gupta says a lot of the company’s employees are millionaires today because the company gave them shares. Storyboard18 reported on June 24, 2026 that early employees who received ESOPs watched their holdings climb as boAt’s valuation grew. The version that went viral on social media adds a sharper line: if you don’t value your employees, a competitor will.
Is it true? Mostly, as far as the public record goes. But a few details are missing, and they change how you should read the headline.
What did Aman Gupta say about boAt employees and ESOPs?
Aman Gupta, boAt’s co-founder, said that early employees who received ESOPs saw their holdings grow sharply as the company’s valuation rose, and that many are now millionaires. He also argued that companies which fail to value loyal employees risk losing them to competitors. The figures behind the claim haven’t been published.
What we could verify, and what we couldn’t
Start with what holds up. Storyboard18 carried Gupta’s comments on ESOPs as a wealth driver for early staff. boAt also has a large ESOP program: a 2023 filing with the Registrar of Companies, as summarised on the greytHR community, covered 9,55,523 options valued at about $9 million.
Now the gaps. We found no original interview or video where the quote appears, so we can’t tell you where or when it was said. Nobody has said how many employees are millionaires, what any one person holds, or whether anyone has actually cashed out. A LinkedIn post summarising the statement makes the same point.
So here’s how we’d read it. “Millionaire” probably means paper wealth, the value of options and shares at the company’s last valuation. That’s real money in the sense that it can be sold in the right conditions. It isn’t real money until it is.
Why equity works for startups that can’t match big salaries
A young company can’t outbid a bank or a large tech employer on salary. What it can offer is a slice of what it might become.
Picture someone who joined a small audio brand in its first years, at a modest salary and with options priced against a small valuation. A decade later the company is valued in the thousands of crores. That person’s grant has grown many times over, and nobody had to raise their pay to make it happen. This is the story Gupta is telling, and it’s the reason ESOPs are such a common talking point in founder interviews.
The other side: boAt’s attrition numbers
The story gets more complicated once you read boAt’s IPO filing. According to BusinessToday’s report on the DRHP, full-time employee attrition was 34.18% in FY25, up from 27.09% in FY23 and 28.14% in FY24. The same filing shows both co-founders stepped back from executive roles 29 days before it was filed: Sameer Mehta as CEO and Gupta as CMO.
Some commentators read this as proof that the ESOPs failed to keep people. We’d be careful. Attrition has many causes, from hiring pace to the mix of roles, and a single percentage can’t tell you why people left.
But it does teach one thing. Both stories can be true at once. ESOPs can make early employees wealthy and a third of full-time staff can still walk out in the same year. Equity is a reward. It isn’t a retention plan on its own.
There’s a liquidity angle too. Inc42 reported that boAt’s updated DRHP is for a ₹1,500 crore IPO, with a fresh issue of up to ₹500 crore and an offer for sale of up to ₹1,000 crore. A listing is the kind of event that can turn paper holdings into cash, subject to vesting and lock-in terms. If you’re reading this later, check the latest on whether the listing has happened.
What HR teams can take from this
If you’re thinking about ESOPs for your own company, four things stand out.
- Tell people what their options are worth: Inc42’s founders’ guide to ESOPs makes the point that employees have a right to know the value of their options. An option nobody can price doesn’t motivate anyone.
- Liquidity plan early: The same guide suggests creating liquidity for employees every three to four years. Options that can never be sold are just numbers in an email.
- Give more to the people who joined first: They took the biggest risk, and the guide says the framework should reflect that.
- Don’t use equity to cover a culture problem: If people are unhappy with their managers or their workload, a grant letter won’t fix it. Ask them. Our guide on why retention is now a business continuity issue is a good place to start.
Frequently asked questions
What are ESOPs?
ESOPs are employee stock option (or ownership) plans. They give employees the right to buy company shares at a set price in the future, usually after a vesting period. If the company’s value rises, the gap between that price and the market value is the employee’s gain.
Has boAt confirmed how many employees are millionaires?
Not in anything we found. The statement doesn’t give a headcount, individual holdings, or whether any wealth has been realised.
Do ESOPs reduce employee attrition?
Not by themselves. boAt’s FY25 attrition of 34.18% shows that a company can run a large ESOP program and still lose a lot of employees.
Is boAt going public?
According to Inc42, boAt has filed an updated DRHP for a ₹1,500 crore IPO. Timelines can change, so check recent coverage for the current status.
The question to ask your own people
Gupta’s line works as a test for any employer: would your people say they feel valued, and would the numbers back them up? Shares are one way to show it. Pay, growth, and how managers treat people are others.
At Amazing Workplaces, we’ve surveyed over 60,000 employees across India and global markets, and the pattern is simple. Employers who ask usually learn something they didn’t expect. If you want to find out what your team really thinks, explore our employee survey and workplace certification, or read more HR news and analysis on our blog.
