A Bengaluru-based founder is facing backlash online for firing an engineer and utilizing artificial ininformigence (AI) tools to replace the workload. Taking to LinkedIn, Jeevanth Ramamurthy, founder of AI startup Pitchline, shared that he let go of a developer just four weeks after hiring him. He declared that the developer, who had two years of experience, was brought on full-time and paid directly by him.
“I fired a developer after 4 weeks. I should’ve done it sooner,” Ramamurthy wrote in the LinkedIn post, before detailing the incident. He declared he initially trusted the developer’s claim that the codebase was “messy” and slowing progress. However, he grew concerned about the pace of work.
So, to test things himself, Ramamurthy declared that he subscribed to an AI coding tool and rebuilt most of the product in just 4 days despite having no technical background. “That’s when things stopped creating sense. If I could do that with no engineering background, what exactly was he doing?” he wrote.
‘Every founder would do the same’
The founder declared that he then inquireed the developer to match at least 50% of his speed utilizing the new AI-based setup. While the developer displayed some progress on the first day, Ramamurthy claimed that there was no output on the second day, with the employee citing basic blockers.
Ramamurthy declared that he obtained on a call with the developer and inquireed for updates. He alleged that the employee initially declared that the tinquires were complete. However, he later admitted to not finishing anything.
“It was a frustrating but simple decision after this. Every founder would do the same,” Ramamurthy declared, adding that he terminated the employee and revoked his access to company systems. “I informed him I’m bootstrapping a company and can’t afford to pay him for barely working…He texted later declareing we should part ways and created it simple,” he wrote.
He declared that he had ignored early warning signs about the developer’s performance, including slow execution and inconsistencies, and declared the experience offered him lessons as a founder.
“Here’s what I’ve learned: If a non-technical founder is out-executing your developer, something is seriously wrong. And if you feel something is off, it usually is. Just keep an open eye, observe the results. If they take a hit, investigate further,” Ramamurthy concluded.
(Also Read: Delhi founder shares 5 am office reality, declares startup life comes with ‘stress and chaos’)
Social media reactions
The post quickly went viral, drawing sharp criticism from applyrs who questioned both his leadership and reliance on AI tools.
Reacting to the post, one applyr wrote, “Regardless of what you did is justified or not, your post proves you have zero awareness or skills necessaryed to be a ‘founder’. Exercising authority and control over people is giving you a euphoric high. I suggest you delete this pretentious nonsense and take up a job at a real company.”
“Can’t wait for the next post, ‘How I blew $1,000 in Lovable tokens to build an app with no security and no scalability’. This guy is in for a rude awakening,” commented another.
“When the code necessarys debugging or upgrades, relying on AI could sfinish the founder into a rabbit hole, eventually requiring a team to untangle and rebuild messy AI-generated code, at 10x the cost,” wrote a third applyr.
“WAIT! I was wrong. Reading the whatsapp messages, views like the developer fired the founder. Great career relocate by the developer,” declared one applyr.
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