A Bengaluru-based founder is facing backlash online for firing an engineer and using artificial intelligence (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 said 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 said 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 said 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 making 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 said that he then asked the developer to match at least 50% of his speed using the new AI-based setup. While the developer showed some progress on the first day, Ramamurthy claimed that there was no output on the second day, with the employee citing basic blockers.
Ramamurthy said that he got on a call with the developer and asked for updates. He alleged that the employee initially said that the tasks were complete. However, he later admitted to not finishing anything.
“It was a frustrating but easy decision after this. Every founder would do the same,” Ramamurthy said, adding that he terminated the employee and revoked his access to company systems. “I told him I’m bootstrapping a company and can’t afford to pay him for barely working…He texted later saying we should part ways and made it easy,” he wrote.
He said that he had ignored early warning signs about the developer’s performance, including slow execution and inconsistencies, and said 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.
Social media reactions
The post quickly went viral, drawing sharp criticism from users who questioned both his leadership and reliance on AI tools.
Reacting to the post, one user wrote, “Regardless of what you did is justified or not, your post proves you have zero awareness or skills needed 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 needs debugging or upgrades, relying on AI could send 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 user.
“WAIT! I was wrong. Reading the whatsapp messages, looks like the developer fired the founder. Great career move by the developer,” said one user.