A founder said Builder.ai just shut down — taking their $65,000 EdTech project with them.
All 1,500 employees gone.
Code held hostage.
No way to recover it.
Just... gone.
They didn’t just lose money.
They lost their dream.
Why? Because everything was built on dependency:
Code locked on their servers
No export button
No cloud choice
No fallback
VC money raised.
Customers abandoned.
This isn't just bankruptcy.
This is a system failure built on low trust.
It reminded me of something a foreign guest told me,
“India is beautiful. But when I rented a bike in Goa, it came with no fuel. Most countries give a full tank.”
It’s a small thing. But it says a lot.
India looks smart from outside. But inside, trust is missing.
I’ve seen this in our own journey too.
We restarted EngineerBabu. Got 2 new projects.
They were building too much. I said:
“You don’t need all this. Focus on marketing first. Build small. Or don’t build at all.”
We lost that deal.
But they came back later with 2 referrals.
Why? Because we were honest.
Indian developers become Google and Microsoft CEOs when they go abroad.
So it’s not about capability.
It’s about mindset.
Let’s stop selling complexity.
Let’s stop trapping clients in dependency.
Let’s start selling trust.
Because in the end, that’s what keeps a business alive — even after the code is gone.
Aditi Chaurasia Aanchal Chaurasia
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