‘I left my Rs 1 crore job at Amazon without any backup’: Bengaluru tech entrepreneur shares his startup journey

Shakti Mani Tripathi, a former Amazon employee, spoke candidly about the challenges he faced after quitting his high-paying job to pursue entrepreneurship. Currently working as the co-founder and CTO of Reflecc, an AI-driven platform designed to automate business workflows, Tripathi’s journey has been anything but smooth.

In a post that has now gone viral on social media platform “2024 was a wild year for me. I quit my Rs 1 crore job at Amazon without any backup, driven by the desire to finally ‘get going’.

After leaving Amazon, Tripathi launched his first startup, Hoobahoo AI, in 2024. However, his initial venture faced immediate challenges, including rejection from Y Combinator and unsuccessful pitches from more than 30 venture capitalists, which led to it shutting down. Ultimately due to the high customer acquisition rate. Costs and insufficient financing.

Undeterred, Tripathi and his co-founder, Kunal Ranjan, focused on developing a SaaS B2B product aimed at monitoring engineering productivity metrics. This idea was abandoned after they realized the complexities of effectively measuring the productivity of software engineers. They then tried to create Codermon AI, an AI tool for developers, but eventually decided to refocus again due to market saturation.

The duo then explored opportunities in the supply chain sector, with the aim of building an AI agent for procurement; However, they soon realized their lack of experience in this area, which led to another shift in focus.

Tripathi’s perseverance led to the formation of Reflecc AI, where he and his team developed a minimum viable product (MVP) in just seven days. They engaged with more than 50 potential clients and industry experts to validate their concept, resulting in three letters of intent (LOIs) from interested parties. Although it reached the top 10% of Y Combinator applications, it was ultimately rejected again.

Reflecting on their journey, Tripathi recognized the need for a more focused approach, which led them to focus on developing an AI-driven digital marketer. He expressed his hope that 2025 would not force him to abandon his entrepreneurial ambitions and return to a corporate role.

Tripathi’s candid post resonated with many, reaching over 77,000 users on X, with many commenters sharing their own experiences with failure and offering words of encouragement.

“That’s a lot in one year! Although a typical founder’s journey, 2023 was similar for me. But I gave up and joined another startup myself. Hope you can keep fighting the good fight,” one user commented. Happy to exchange notes sometime!”

Another user wished him luck and said: “You can only take such risks in business during the early years of your career…so just keep going…and I wish you all the best!!!”