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Startup founder who returned $2 million to investors explains why she quit: 'Hardest decision of my life'
Aditi Sinha, a former startup CEO who returned $2 million to investors, said that leaving her company was the hardest decision she had ever made.
An entrepreneur has shared why she decided to leave her fast-growing startup, return $2 million (around ₹19 crore) to investors, and start over. In a video shared on Instagram, Aditi Sinha spoke about her journey as an entrepreneur and the reason behind her life-changing decision.
"I started a tech company at 23, right after graduating from BITS. Over the next 6 years, we raised $5 million, built a team of 30, and worked with global customers. From the outside, it looked like we had everything figured out," she said.
However, despite the success, Sinha said that she realised something was missing. "But somewhere along the way, I realised that I built a company without building a life that felt truly like mine. So I stepped away. We returned $2 million to our investors, and I started over from scratch," she said.
She added that after leaving the company, she decided to follow the creative dreams she had put aside. "Now, I'm pursuing the creative dreams I buried while chasing success. I wrote my first book, perform music and poetry shows with my brother, and currently advise early-stage founders," she shared.
In the caption of her Instagram post, Sinha said that leaving her company was the hardest decision she had ever made.
"I walked away from $2M to find my voice again," she wrote. "Returning $2,000,000 in venture funding and stepping down as a tech founder was the hardest decision of my life, and the most necessary one," she added.
Sinha further said that burnout changed the way she looked at success. "Burning out taught me that success on paper means nothing if you're losing yourself in the process. I decided to move from building software to building stories, choosing poetry, performance, and honest creation over running on empty," she wrote.
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Who is Aditi Sinha?
According to her LinkedIn profile, Aditi Sinha is a Venture Partner and advisor at Entrepreneurs First, where she works with early-stage startup founders. She earlier founded and led Locale.ai after graduating from BITS Pilani with a degree in Economics and Finance.
Her profile also describes her as an author, poet and artist who writes about ambition, identity, reinvention and the emotional lives of high achievers.
How did social media react?
Many people praised Sinha for sharing her story.
"Hats off to your courage to do that," one Instagram user commented.
"You took the best decision btw," another wrote.
