Paras Chopra, Bengaluru-based entrepreneur and millionaire founder of Wingify, revealed that he had barred his team at Lossfunk, an AI research lab, from engaging with Indian customers. His decision came in response to a growing sentiment among startup founders who have begun steering away from the Indian market under what some are calling the “Skip India Movement”.
Chopra made the revelation while replying to a post by Vaibhav Domkundwar, a well-known investor and founder of Better Capital. Domkundwar claimed that a number of artificial intelligence (AI) startup founders had deliberately chosen to avoid selling to Indian clients after experiencing repeated requests for unpaid proof of concepts (PoCs) and trials that failed to convert into paying business.
“AI founders finally skipping selling to Indian customers after doing PoCs after PoCs and then being requested for even more ‘free’ PoCs. There is a limit to this and founders are saying screw it and skipping selling to Indian customers. Enough is enough,” Domkundwar posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Even unicorns are using these startup founders (who are 10x better than their internal teams) for freebies.”
He also said that his remarks were not anecdotal, but grounded in “primary data”, indicating that his insights came from direct conversations with founders across the startup ecosystem.
Chopra supported the view and disclosed that his own AI team at Lossfunk had been instructed to refrain from working with Indian clients.
“I have banned builders at Lossfunk [from] talking to Indian customers,” Chopra said. “It’s a tiny tech market, but a comfort zone. Many times, founders end up optimising for the Indian market and realise they can’t scale further.”
The discussion sparked wider debate among entrepreneurs and operators in the tech ecosystem, with several founders echoing similar frustrations about the Indian customer base.
“Indians are 2x hard to convince and 1/4th [as much] willingness to pay. Not worth it at all. I have stopped marketing for the Indian market and will probably de-prioritise Indians in the US too,” said another founder, joining the thread.
The criticism was not limited to software or SaaS firms. One user commented, “Same for new-tech hardware brands, tiny market, not many early adopters, low paying capacity.”
Others, however, pushed back against the generalisation, arguing that excluding Indian clients entirely could be a misstep for startups aiming for global reach and scale. Critics suggested that founders should address pricing strategy, positioning, or customer education instead of abandoning the market altogether.
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