21 and Figuring It Out

Ah, 2024. College final year with a lot of backlogs, subjects I didn't pass. I never wanted to write those exams, but as an Indian boy with Indian parents, they'd beat me if they knew. I intended to clear them all for my parents because I'm the first degree holder in my family, the most educated, so they want to frame my degree and put it on the wall near the family photo. I cleared everything but still had one left: the mega headache subject, math in the 4th semester. People who wrote it got lucky and passed. If you ask any one of them a small easy question about the subject, they don't really know. They passed by internal marks and an easy question paper. I love math in some ways, and in some ways I hate its theorems. I hate Euler's. I don't hate Isaac Newton for calculus because it's not harder than these theorems and derivations.

Okay yeah, where did I leave off? Hmm. After that, what? Apply for a job? I'm not a job person. I ignored job applications, never serious about it. I always wanted to do things on my own, but I didn't know what to do. Confusion stage. Level 4 brainrot watching so many videos and course videos about business and making money. Nothing got into my mind as good.

Okay, Joyel failed again in my subject. Sad. And I couldn't go to Germany for higher studies. I wanted to study higher because I wanted to run from India and learn new things, new place, new language. I never hated India. I just wanted to know about the world. Run away from parents.

Failed. Doomed stage. Sitting in a tea shop with my friend Rafiq, I was telling him about my new doomsday. Then a guy near us heard it and came to us, asking about my backlogs. He said he had 18 backlogs and started telling us about his achievements. After that TED talk, founder of a big company, millionaire, I was like wow. He gave me motivation. Then I asked him, can I work with you or talk with you? Are you free tomorrow? He said I'm busy, just send a mail with your resume. After 2 days I got a call from HR. Interview.

I went there. It's a house. The startup was running in a house. Oh great, feels like Facebook vibes at first. The interview went on for 4 days because the CEO wasn't there and the COO wasn't there. Waited patiently and joined as a business development intern. As a CS major, getting into marketing is totally opposite, but I took it to learn about startups and for the CEO guy. I don't want to mention his name. He is my dark, disgusting story.

HR was good, taught me things. It was my first job. But I didn't like the employees there. They were bullies, talked shit, and thought they were smart, these software developers in the company. They weren't engineers or CS graduates. They were from different departments, did a Java course for months, became software developers, and joined the company. In my college days I didn't get into programming much. Last time I programmed was when I was 13 to 16 years old, then I got into cybersecurity, then I stopped after 18. Switch after switch.

Yeah, toxic company. The CEO had some marriage problems. He was asking me questions like, do you know this guy, that guy? He was telling me about a guy who was hacking his system and so on, doubting me. I was already confused about tech or sales, but I really hated the sales job. Just copy and paste, taking leads from LinkedIn, cold mail, CRM. It's not for me. But I learnt a lot, and I decided I never want my startup company to be like this. That moment I decided: don't lie, be honest, and dream big.

This CEO always talked like a marketing guy with so many lies. He told me his company was worth this much, but it wasn't. He was using open source software, painting over it, and selling it to others. He's not an engineer. He's a liar. But all thanks to him, because of him I learnt a lot of things in my life, and that moment I realised I needed to be different. He said I can't start a startup or get an MNC job because I resigned. I told him I wanted to study, but the truth was it was because of his stupid company, the people, and him. Worst founder I've ever seen.

After that I started learning and building a browser and working with other people to create a good product. But it didn't happen. People left after weeks because they were focusing on their jobs and money was important for them. Then I got into a terrible bike accident. A drunk guy crossed over me. Head injury. It took me months to recover. 2024 ended and 2025 was born.

Healing. March came. Joined a startup as a founding engineer because I wanted to work in a startup to learn. That went for 3 months. Then a guy, a CEO, approached me. A good, humble guy. He asked me to join his startup on LinkedIn. I joined his startup, SleepFix AI. A big hustle began. So many came and left. Got a sleep scientist from Australia. Went from founding member to co-founder after 3 months of hardworking as a single person.

The CTO was sick and lied. Paul Graham emphasizes that co-founders need a strong, trusting relationship and must be genuinely resourceful, likening their bond to a dog and a sock. But here were the co-founder problems. The CEO Nitish was always there. He started this startup, his idea. I was there with him to build, getting scientists, research, everything on the tech side working. But the other co-founder, the CTO, had problems and lied about the work. He did nothing at all.

We got a board member who is a YC startup founder. In the last stage of the YC interview, the CTO guy left. Then after months, applied again, iterating the product. Everything was going good. Got a new CTO who I met in Bangalore. Hired an intern. But in October everyone started to quit, losing hope. Then what? It failed. SleepFix AI paused. But I learnt a good lesson and gained good experience. Got a good friend.

November 2025. A founder of a startup wanted to meet me. I met him with his other co-founder. He wanted me to join his startup. I said no. But his startup had traction and revenue, bootstrapped. It was actually a good startup. Then I got an offer from another startup too. I took a break and joined the bootstrapped startup as Head of Tech. I took another risk.

My parents are worried, but they know I'm trying. People my age have jobs, making money. But me, I'm trying everything and failing. No money. Depending on money from parents and my friend Rafiq. I stay in his house in Bangalore. He supports me a lot.

That's it. Now I'm Head of Tech at BezgoFresh. Let's give it a go.