Startup Founder Fires Developer, Boasts About Using AI On LinkedIn, Faces Backlash

A startup founder is facing backlash after firing an engineer just four weeks into the job and boasting about using artificial intelligence (AI) tool to replace the workload. In a viral LinkedIn post, Jeevanth Ramamurthy explained that despite having no engineering background, he was able to "vibe code" the company's codebase himself using an AI platform, rendering the developer's role redundant.

"I fired a developer after 4 weeks. I should've done it sooner," Ramamurthy said, adding: "Hired a 2 years experience developer to help build the product full-time. Paid him out of my pocket. Fair enough. But I wasn't satisfied with the pace and something felt off."

Ramamurthy bought a subscription to a vibe-coding platform and claimed that he rebuilt most of the code, adding that he challenged the developer to match half the pace of his work.

"So I bought a Lovable subscription and started building the product myself. I rebuilt most of it in 4 days. That's when things stopped making sense. If I could do that with no engineering background, what exactly was he doing? So I made a clear ask.
"Match at least 50% of my speed, let's move to the new and cleaner lovable codebase." That felt fair."

However, when the developer sought clarity about his role, things escalated. In a screenshot shared by Ramamurthy, the developer said they would not be returning to work. Ramamurthy responded, saying the developer was fired. He also claimed that the techie might have been working for another company and executed the projects slowly.

"It was a frustrating but easy decision after this. Every founder would do the same. I told him I'm bootstrapping a company and can't afford to pay him for barely working."

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'Guy Is In For A Rude Awakening'

As the post gained traction, social media users slammed Ramamurthy for his actions, adding that he might soon need to hire human coders at an additional cost.

"Haha, hello there. Seems like your farming didn't yield the engagement you sought here?" said one user while another added: "Can't wait for the next post, "How I blew $1,000 in Lovable tokens to build an app with no security and no scalability". This guy is in for a rude awakening."

A third commented: "Regardless of what you did is justified or not, your post proves you have zero awareness or skills needed to be a "founder". Exercising authority and control over people is giving you a euphoric high."

A fourth said: "When the code needs debugging or upgrades, relying on AI could send the founder into a rabbit hole, eventually requiring a team to untangle and rebuild messy AI-generated code, at 10x the cost."