Indian-Origin Founder Reacts Sharply To Ex-Employee's "Got Fired" Post, Gets Slammed Online

An India-origin startup founder is being slammed online for his blunt response to a former employee's viral post about getting fired. The controversy erupted when Namya Khan, now the co-founder of design agency Supafast, shared a post on X about how she was fired from her first tech job in 2023. Without mentioning the name of the company, she recalled being told by her product manager that artificial intelligence (AI) might replace her soon, just a month before she was fired. But instead of spiralling, Ms Khan said that she used that moment as motivation to start her own business.

"Looking back, getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to me," Ms Khan wrote, adding, "Lesson: If it won't matter in five years, don't give it five minutes of panic. Zoom out. Your worst day can be your biggest turning point."

After Ms Khan's post went viral, her former boss, one of the startup's co-founders, accused her of misrepresenting the situation to gain sympathy and freelance clients. Responding to her tweet, Keswin Suresh, co-founder of DarDoc, claimed that Ms Khan's job loss had nothing to do with AI, and was in fact because of her poor performance. "The truth is simple. The work was sloppy, deadlines were missed, and basic execution was consistently off. This wasn't AI replacing a job. This was someone not doing the job," he wrote. 

Namya was hired as a frontend developer. She was given multiple chances, detailed feedback, and more support than most startups would bother with. The truth is simple. The work was sloppy, deadlines were missed, and basic execution was consistently off. This wasn't AI replacing a… https://t.co/u02ye2pZOS

— Keswin (@keswins) April 30, 2025

Further, Mr Keswin called Ms Khan's post a "sob story". "We're glad she's running her own agency. We're not here to block anyone's growth. But don't rewrite history. Don't twist facts. And don't drag the company that gave you your first shot into your personal PR strategy. You weren't replaced by AI. You were replaced by someone who could actually ship working code," he said.

Mr Keswin's post quickly caught the internet's attention, with many users calling the entrepreneur "unprofessional". Some users also called his public statement unnecessary, especially since Ms Khan never named or shamed the company. 

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"Sorry to say, but this is not how a founder reacts. Demeaning your ex-employee was not needed here given that she does not names any organisation here. Even if you feel it's needed, not the ideal leadership quality," wrote one user. "It's impossible to convey how badly you are damaging your own reputation here. She never named your company but you're now sharing screenshots of her emails which are written with respectful professionalism," commented another. 

"If your intention was to retaliate because she was giving your company a bad name, you miscalculated. You just made your startup look way worse than she did," expressed a third user. 

"word of advice- don't burn your company's rep & goodwill by going tit-for-tat with an ex-employee online. she didn't even name the company but you got triggered and released her personnel file publicly," wrote one user. 

"While she may be clickbaiting, I still find it bad style from a founder to call out a former employee publicly like that. Be better than this," added another.