Bengaluru-based techie Shakti Mani Tripathi recently opened up about the setbacks he faced in his entrepreneurial journey after resigning from his high-paying Amazon job. At present, Tripathi serves as co-founder and CTO of Reflecc, an AI company that automates the business and operational workflows of organizations.
He left his lucrative position at Amazon, where he was earning a ₹1 crore package, to launch his own AI startup. However, his journey was fraught with challenges and setbacks that ultimately led to the failure of his ventures. As shared on his LinkedIn profile, Tripathy worked as a software engineer with Amazon and helped develop the Amazon Pay Later application.
“2024 has been a wild year for me. Left my ₹1 crore job at Amazon without any backup, out of an urge to finally 'start up',” he shared on social media.
The Journey from Amazon to Entrepreneurship
Tripathi's decision to leave his comfortable job at Amazon was driven by a desire to pursue his passion for entrepreneurship. He took a bold step and founded his first startup, Hoobahoo AI, in 2024. Despite his efforts to pitch the idea to investors and raise funds, the startup failed to gain traction and was eventually shut down due to financial constraints.
Facing Rejection and Pivoting
Undeterred by the failure of his first venture, Tripathi continued to explore new opportunities in the tech industry. He and his co-founder, Kunal Ranjan, worked on developing a B2B SaaS platform for engineering teams but soon realized the limitations of their approach. They pivoted to Codermon AI, a platform for developers' ad-hoc tasks, only to find themselves in an overcrowded market with stiff competition.
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Learning from Failure and Pivoting Towards Success
After experiencing multiple setbacks and rejections, Tripathi and his team shifted their focus to the supply chain industry, where they attempted to develop an AI agent for procurement. However, their lack of prior experience in this domain proved to be a significant obstacle, leading to yet another dead end.
Facing the challenges, Tripathi and his co-founder regrouped and started working on Reflecc AI, an innovative solution for automating business and operational workflows. Despite facing rejection from Y Combinator, they received positive feedback from potential clients and industry experts, indicating a genuine interest in their product.
Embracing Failure as a Learning Opportunity
Through the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey, Tripathi learned valuable lessons about persistence, resilience, and adaptability. He acknowledged the mistakes he made along the way and used them as stepping stones towards future success. In a reflective post on social media, he shared his experiences with failure and expressed his determination to continue his entrepreneurial journey despite the setbacks.
Currently building an AI Digital Marketer, the techie-turned-entrepreneur admitted failing immensely but said that he also learned a lot from these various setbacks. “I hope 2025 doesn’t force me to quit my entrepreneurial journey and return to being an employee...once again,” he concluded.
The post has reached over 40,000 people on X. Netizens have opened up about their professional experiences while responding to Tripathi’s post and also wished him luck.
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