Bold headline: A high-flying founder walks away from a ₹2 crore-a-month business to take a job as an engineer — and the story isn’t what you’d expect.
A Jaipur-based entrepreneur shared a remarkable tale about an IIT Kanpur graduate who built a successful company, but eventually grew tired of dealing with manufacturers and chose to step back from entrepreneurship to work for someone else. Pranshi Chaturvedi, founder and CEO of Bellish Group, recounted the IITian’s journey in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Chaturvedi noted that she met the IIT Kanpur alumnus during a recent trip and learned that he had launched a direct-to-consumer (D2C) shoe brand generating ₹2 crore in monthly sales. Despite this strong performance, he became unhappy with certain aspects of his business and decided to leave his own company to join a startup in Gurgaon.
IITian leaves his own company
According to Chaturvedi, the founder left entrepreneurship because he disliked how his Surat-based manufacturers operated. In her X post, she wrote: “On my recent trip, I met an IIT Kanpur alumnus who scaled his D2C shoe brand to ₹2 crore in monthly sales. He left it because he didn’t like how the Surat manufacturers operated.”
After stepping away from the business that was delivering ₹2 crore in monthly revenue, the IITian now works as a Lead Engineer at a Gurgaon-based startup that has secured Series A funding, though the person’s name wasn’t disclosed.
Chaturvedi further explained the decision to swap entrepreneurship for a salaried role: “The reason he gave for quitting was essentially supply issues. He grew weary of it and chose to apply his engineering mindset elsewhere.”
She also addressed speculation about caste or community factors, clarifying, “There was no caste or community angle involved. This is about risk-taking capacity.”
What the internet is saying
Readers on social media were widely surprised that someone would relinquish a thriving company to work as an employee. One user, Advik Jain, asked, “Curious what specifically about the manufacturers made him walk. That’s a big decision and there’s probably a story there worth hearing.”
Another commenter added, “Sometimes walking away from your own success takes more courage than building it in the first place.”
A third observer noted, “The labour-intensive sector is very unorganized.”
Gaurav Sharma offered a practical perspective: “Manufacturing isn’t a Raja Babu job. You deal with labor issues, supplier pressures, client negotiations, and sometimes have to chase payments as if you owe them money. There are constant challenges, and the industry needs people who can absorb pressure and execute with discipline.”
Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Hindustan Times has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.
