Startup Founder Builds 24 AI Systems In 72 Hours To Replace "Unprofessional" Staff

A startup founder from a tier-2 city has gone viral after reportedly replacing several employee roles with AI tools, following frustration with managing staff. The story was shared by product leader Badri Parthasarathy on X, who spoke about a founder friend who runs an AI services company and faced problems after the business grew quickly.

According to the post, the startup expanded from just five people to about 25 employees in a short time. But with growth came new challenges, especially in managing younger hires. The founder was reportedly unhappy with what he described as a lack of professionalism. He mentioned issues like employees asking to work from home without prior notice, missing deadlines, and taking long breaks during work hours.

"True story from a founder friend of an AI-based services firm in a tier 2 city. He had a huge scale up from 5 to 25 employees in a short time due to crazy growth. But he got so vexed with the rampant casual attitude and unprofessionalism of freshers and young (<5 yrs) employees," the post on X read. 

Hiring also didn't go as planned. Out of around 20 offers made, only 10 people joined, and eventually just three stayed on. The founder felt the problem wasn't about salary or workload, but more about attitude and willingness to put in extra effort.

Frustrated, he decided to take a different route. He spent nearly 72 hours working with AI tools like Claude to automate key parts of his business. He built around 24 AI-based systems that now handle tasks across tech, sales, and operations - roles that were earlier done by employees. While he now works long hours himself, sometimes up to 18 hours a day, he says he prefers running the business this way.

"The founder still ends up doing 18-hour days to double up as tech lead, sales lead, and multiple other roles thanks to Claude but people really need to smell the coffee on where AI has already left them vis-à-vis employability before throwing so many unwanted tantrums," the post added. 

See the post here:

True story from a founder friend of an AI based services firm in tier 2 city. He had a huge scale up from 5 to 25 employees in a short time due to crazy growth. But he got so vexed with rampant casual attitude and unprofessionalism of freshers and young (<5 yrs) employees. 1/n

— Badri Parthasarathy 🚢 | income.bitcoin (@mediocremumble) April 14, 2026

This story reflects a growing trend where some founders are relying more on AI instead of hiring large teams. For example, Eric Vaughan reportedly cut nearly 80% of his staff in 2023 after they resisted moving to AI and later said he would make the same decision again.

At the same time, companies like LimeChat are promoting tools that can replace the work of multiple customer service agents at a lower cost. Even big companies such as Amazon and Salesforce have hinted that AI could reduce the need for large workforces in the future.