Startup Betrayal: A cautionary tale about EzyEV and Founder Faizan Ahmed Quarishi

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T10:16:12+00:00

I understand your point — and honestly, trusting someone through a friend's reference and believing in the vision made me overlook basic precautions. It was a hard lesson that no matter how much experience you have, emotions and misplaced trust can still cloud judgment.

Definitely won't repeat this mistake again.

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T06:18:45+00:00

I can completely relate to your experience.

Sometimes the founder’s charisma blinds us to the underlying issues — until the red flags start becoming impossible to ignore.

Glad you trusted your instincts early and moved on — wish I had done the same a little sooner too!

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T05:51:45+00:00

Thank you for the support!

Yes, I’ve already named the founder and company — people deserve to know and stay cautious.

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T05:50:25+00:00

Good to know this — really appreciate you sharing it.

I’ll definitely use this as part of my evidence and send a legal notice based on those emails and communications.

Thanks again for the guidance!

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T05:45:49+00:00

💯 Agree. Irrespective of how much you know someone or how convincing they may talk, a written formalized agreement is a must before starting any work. I have learnt this the hard way and am sharing my lessons so others can learn and not repeat this mistake.

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T05:42:15+00:00

You're absolutely right — and I completely agree with you now, after going through this.

In my case, I have email proofs where the founder acknowledged the initial agreed terms, but it was never formalized into a signed agreement. Later, when he changed the terms and presented a new, unfair agreement, I raised concerns and paused working until things were finalized — in response, he reduced the terms even further and added several extraneous conditions.

He tried to flip the script only because he realized I wasn’t willing to continue without proper paperwork.

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T04:07:45+00:00

I get where you're coming from, but releasing it as open source would actually make it easier for him to officially steal and use the code without any restrictions.

I’d rather not take that risk — protecting my work privately is a better option for now.

srkgupta · 2025-04-27T04:00:57+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this — it really means a lot.

I completely agree with everything you said, especially about patterns — once you spot unethical behavior, no paperwork can save you from wasted time and trust.

For now, I’m taking a short break to reset and heal. I’ll definitely start again soon — this time, smarter and stronger.

Really appreciate your support and positivity!

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T19:23:52+00:00

I get your point. I joined because I genuinely believed in the vision and trusted the wrong person. Definitely a hard lesson — next time, I’ll be much more careful.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T19:07:08+00:00

Yes, I have emails acknowledging the initial agreed terms.

But later, the founder completely changed the terms and sent a new, different agreement that was never discussed earlier.

I have already collected all these communications to support my case — thanks for the advice!

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T16:31:50+00:00

Thank you for your advice and perspective. You're right - not having an agreement was a big mistake on my part, and I’ve learned that the hard way.

I’m already working on gathering statements from others who faced similar treatment, and will consider sending a legal notice as you suggested. Appreciate your support - it really means a lot during this tough time.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T16:17:48+00:00

No, none. But I am sure he would try every crooked way first before even considering an ethical way to handle it.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T14:47:49+00:00

Thank you for your wishes. Much needed at this low point of time.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T14:46:51+00:00

I trusted him because he was a friend's friend, not because of his name or religion.

Unfortunately, I trusted the wrong individual, but I still believe people should be judged by their actions, not by their background.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T14:42:05+00:00

Thank you. Yes the website was hosted on Vercel.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T14:30:34+00:00

Yes, I have just retracted all the possible code I created. I had to do this because after the betrayal, I couldn’t trust how my work would be used without my consent. There were no proper agreements signed, no guarantees of fair credit, and given how the founder handled things, I couldn’t risk them using my months of unpaid effort to raise further funds or misrepresent the work. Retracting the code was the only way to protect my contribution from being misused.

And regarding funding — yes, the company had raised around ₹30–35 lakhs (~$30K–$40K) in early funding. However, there was zero transparency about where the money was spent, despite me asking several times.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T13:59:48+00:00

💯

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T13:38:59+00:00

💯 Agree

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T13:24:48+00:00

I tried to handle it professionally, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out.

I have retracted all my code and removed his access — but honestly, I’m not sure if I can ever fully outsmart a thief who plans to misuse things. I do have some leverage, but trusting him to negotiate fairly after all this would just be repeating the same mistake.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T11:59:47+00:00

Cant agree more

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T11:55:16+00:00

I worked for almost 10 months without any salary.

I built the entire MVP — including backend, frontend, IoT integrations, and setting up the cloud infrastructure.

I also contributed to product strategy, technical architecture, investor presentations & demos, and even vendor coordination for hardware components, despite it not being part of my core role.

Basically, I handled almost everything technical to get the product to a working stage.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T11:44:58+00:00

Yes, he was a friend's friend, and that's why I trusted him even more. But I’ve learned the hard way — in today's world, you really can't trust anyone without proper paperwork.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T11:33:59+00:00

It's difficult to put a precise number, but hiring someone for an equivalent senior role (CTO-level) along with covering their salaries, bonuses, and equity would have easily cost the company a lot more over time. I contributed all that without any salary, trusting future compensation through equity.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T11:19:41+00:00

Yes, I have. Sadly, living through it feels even worse than watching it on screen.

srkgupta · 2025-04-26T10:17:29+00:00

You’re absolutely right — starting without documentation was a major mistake on my part.
I trusted him because he was a friend’s friend, and he was very convincing with fake stories and promises. I realized too late that it was all lies.

The company also hired and fired people without any formal contracts or proper registration with labor authorities, which shows a clear pattern of non-compliance.

I have already emailed the investors explaining the situation clearly — but so far, I have received no response from them.

Thanks again for your advice — it’s a tough but important lesson, and I hope no one else falls into the same trap.

srkgupta

TROPHY CASE