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Indian-origin woman featured on Forbes exposes shady startup stories of fraudulent ‘desi’ founders
In an X post, Ash Arora alleged that she met two ‘desi’ founders in San Francisco who manipulated revenue figures and lied about client lists.
An Indian-origin woman’s claims about ‘desi’ founders’ fraudulent behaviour in San Francisco’s startup ecosystem have gone viral. Ash Arora, a LocalGlobe partner featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe Finance) list, alleged that she met two Indian founders who were inflating metrics and making false client claims.
“Have met two founders in SF this month. Both fraud: 1. Is subletting a rented apartment and showing that as revenue for his startup. 2. Is claiming Amazon and Google are clients who have signed LOIs when they have never even heard of them,” Ash Arora wrote.
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“What’s common among them? Both desi men Beware of these people!” she continued, adding, “4 VCs have pinged me correctly guessing both these founder names. Is this Soham Parekh 2.0? We need a BS radar community out here.”
Take a look at the post:
What did social media say?
An individual suggested, “Agent to detect and keep a LIVE list if the company's fundamental patterns indicate that it's a fraud.” Another remarked, “A sample of two. What’s the point of including their race?” Arora replied, “Because it breaks my heart that Indians are doing this and ruining the reputation of my country.”
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A third posted, “The 'desi men' part is a spicy take, but honestly, the patterns of fraud in SF are pretty universal. Desperation or greed, it always comes back to the same stuff.” Arora responded, “Idk, man, maybe my network, but both of them being Indian, above 30, mid backgrounds and extremely arrogant threw me off. I didn’t see it coming. Even 2 years ago when I met a YC startup that was completely fraudulent, and after our diligence, even YC threw them out - a desi male founder. Why this pattern.”
A fourth wrote, “Even in crypto, people avoid projects who have desi founders. That is the sad reality and we all know why.”
Who is Ash Arora?
According to a Forbes report, Arora rose from a Delhi refugee colony. As per her LinkedIn profile, she is an alum of Lady Shri Ram College For Women in Delhi and started her career as an associate at a bank.
Over the years, she assumed various roles in different fields associated with trading and blockchain. She is currently staying in London.
