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

Shakti Mani Tripathi, a former Amazon employee, has opened up about the challenges she faced after leaving her high-paying job to pursue entrepreneurship. Currently serving as 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 now-viral post on social media platform X, Tripathi detailed his rough year since leaving his lucrative ₹1 crore position at Amazon, where he contributed to the development of the Amazon Pay Later application . “2024 was a wild year for me. I left my ₹1 crore job at Amazon without any backup, driven by the desire to finally ‘start’,” he shared.

After leaving Amazon, Tripathi launched his first startup, Hoobahoo AI, in 2024. However, his initial initiative faced immediate challenges, including rejection from Y Combinator and failed pitches to more than 30 venture capitalists, leading to its eventual closure due to high customer acquisition. costs and insufficient funding.

Undeterred, Tripathi and his co-founder, Kunal Ranjan, pivoted to develop a B2B SaaS product aimed at monitoring engineering productivity metrics. This idea was abandoned after realizing the complexity of measuring the productivity of software engineers effectively. They then tried to create Codermon AI, an AI tool for developers, but ultimately decided to pivot 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, he soon recognized his lack of experience in this area, causing another change of 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 customers and industry experts to validate their concept, resulting in three Letters of Intent (LOIs) from interested parties. Despite being in the top 10% of Y Combinator applications, they were ultimately rejected once again.

Reflecting on his journey, Tripathi recognized the need for a more focused approach, leading him to pivot towards developing an AI Digital Marketer. He expressed the hope that 2025 will not force him to abandon his entrepreneurial aspirations and return to a corporate role.

Tripathi’s candid post resonated with many, reaching more than 77,000 users on X, where numerous commenters shared their experiences with failure and offered words of encouragement.

One user commented: “That’s a lot in one year! The typical journey of the founder, but my 2023 was similar. I gave up though and joined another startup. happy to exchange notes sometime!”

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