YC-backed Indian AI startup CodeParrot shuts down, “Startups are brutally hard,” says cofounder

YC-backed Indian AI startup CodeParrot, which built developer tools using large language models (LLMs) to convert Figma designs into production-ready code, is shutting down. 

Cofounder announces closing startup

“We’re shutting down CodeParrot,” cofounder Vedant Agarwala announced on LinkedIn recently. 

He shared how two and a half years ago, he and his cofounder, Royal Jain, got into Y Combinator with only the founding team and an idea they scrapped within weeks.

“We left India, went to Singapore to sort out our US visas, and spent three magical months in San Francisco — surrounded by people who made us believe we could build something meaningful,” Agarwala wrote.

About CodeParrot

The AI startup, founded by Agarwala and Royal Jain in 2022, raised $500,000 and achieved early traction with a VS Code extension that translated Figma designs and screenshots into React, Flutter, and HTML code. 

“What followed was harder than we ever imagined,” the cofounder said. “We didn’t raise on Demo Day.”

Part of the Winter 2023 Y Combinator batch, the team built and shipped multiple versions of the product but could not attain sustainable growth.

Agarwala claimed that they reached $1,500 in monthly recurring revenue after their final pivot but chose to shut down rather than continue with limited runway.

“We hired and, painfully, had to let go of both the engineers,” he disclosed. “We burned through the $500k we’d raised — and when we hit $1,500 MRR with our final pivot (Figma-to-code using LLMs), we couldn’t break through. Instead of running more experiments with dwindling runway, we decided it was time to shut shop.”

He further added that getting into YC and seeing the first real revenue hit their Stripe account are memorable milestones to him.

The entrepreneur said that he learned “plenty of lessons” from his business.

“Startups are brutally hard — and pivot hell is the worst part by far,” he admitted.

Thanking friends, family and users, the founder informed being on a short sabbatical. He also said that his belief in AI and LLMs has only grown.

“I know there’s so much more to build in this space,” he said. “I’m already exploring new ideas and looking for a cofounder to take the next plunge with. The YC community is an incredible place to find both inspiration and partners,” he concluded.

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