Indian-origin man creates pretend founder persona, methods 27 buyers: ‘This sport is rigged’ | Trending

An Indian-origin UC Berkeley graduate has claimed that he was in a position to appeal to the curiosity of practically 30 enterprise capitalists by sending chilly emails utilizing a pretend persona and key phrases like “Stanford,” “AI,” and “Palantir.”
In his publish, Bhavye Khetan criticised the startup and enterprise capital (VC) ecosystem, claiming that investor curiosity may be generated with simply the fitting buzzwords and credentials—even when there isn’t any actual product, pitch, or plan.
“I made a pretend founder persona. No product. No pitch. No deck. Simply: Stanford CS, Ex-Palantir and used the phrase “AI” 3 occasions. Despatched chilly emails to 34 VCs. 27 replied. 4 requested for a name. This sport is rigged in methods most individuals don’t perceive,” he wrote.
Khetan defined that he invented a startup founder and, with no enterprise thought, product, or perhaps a presentation deck, he acquired responses from a majority of VCs just by leveraging a prestigious educational background, a hyped tech firm, and a trending buzzword.
He claimed that the startup sport isn’t at all times about what you construct—typically, it’s nearly who you look like.
‘That is silly’
The publish acquired over 330,000 views, and plenty of had been shocked by the outcomes.
“Who would have thought having shiny logos on resume makes folks extra prone to wanna discuss to you,” joked one person.
One other wrote: “I heard a couple of man who faked his CV with comparable founder, tech nonsense and landed main consulting after which govt jobs this manner. Whole climb up the ladder he delegated key duties he had no thought find out how to do himself to underlings. Now he’s CFO at a Fortune 500, clearing 500K a 12 months.”
Nevertheless, some argued that utilizing precise prestigious establishments and firms in your resume does lend credibility and {that a} lie like this wouldn’t maintain up for lengthy.
“That is silly. You lied. Stanford is significant. Palantir is significant. AI is significant. The one individual appearing inappropriately is you,” remarked one commenter.
“I don’t assume it’s rigged, in the event you lie after all they’ll take your name however I feel you received’t get previous that after they work out you’re mendacity fairly shortly,” added one other.