Indian-Origin CEO Facing Backlash For Ditching Startup To Join Google: "Generational Villain"

NDTV

3 days ago

Days after Google hired Windsurf's Varun Mohan, a backlash has ensued with social media users slamming the Indian-origin CEO for leaving the company. Mr Mohan, alongside co-founder Douglas Chen, joined Google's artificial intelligence (AI) arm DeepMind, following a high-stakes corporate tug-of-war that reportedly saw OpenAI in advanced talks to acquire Windsurf just last month.
His abrupt exit, however, left Windsurf in turmoil. The startup managed to secure a last-minute acquisition by another AI firm, Cognition, after a weekend of frantic negotiations. The company's new CEO, Jeff Wang, described the rescue as "crazy".
Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out Mohan, saying he would not work with him again.
"Windsurf and others are really bad examples of founders leaving their teams behind and not even sharing the proceeds," Mr Khosla wrote.
So true. Windsurf and others are really bad examples of founders leaving their teams behind and not even sharing the proceeds with their team. I definitely would not work with their founders next time. https://t.co/SBjxB4Pqgs
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) July 19, 2025
Meanwhile, CEO of Cognition, Scott Wu, added: "There's an unspoken covenant that as a founder, you go down with the ship. For better or worse, it's changed a bit over the last year and I think it's disappointing, to be honest."
'There's an unspoken covenant that as a founder, you go down with the ship.
For better or worse, it's changed a bit over the last year and I think it's disappointing, to be honest.'
Enough said. This show is everything and more on:
- What really happened behind the scenes
-… pic.twitter.com/qaY7MVwgIy
— Harry Stebbings (@HarryStebbings) July 18, 2025
"Varun Mohan is a generational villain at this point, crazy saga. Also, no word from him," said one user while another added: "The original Windsurf leadership team jumping ships to join Google with cherry-picked employees and leaving most of the team behind is unconscionable. Deeply unethical."
Varun Mohan is a generational villain at this point.. crazy saga. Also no word from him. https://t.co/KHCCOSNOlN
— Chandra (@NCResq) July 19, 2025
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While the backlash was intense, Ycombinator CEO Garry Tan came to Mr Mohan's rescue, stating he did not deserve to be dragged into the internet beef.
"Varun Mohan and the team at Windsurf built something great," wrote Mr Tan, adding: "He and his team don't deserve to be dragged and I think in the long term their decision to sell will be vindicated. It can be irresistible to fan the flames on Internet beef but in this case everyone should stand down given what really happened."
Mr Mohan, who has Indian roots, was raised in Sunnyvale, California, by parents who migrated from India. He attended The Harker School in San Jose before moving on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned both a Bachelor's and Master of Engineering degree in Computer Science.
He co-founded Windsurf in June 2021, with the startup gaining prominence for developing AI tools that streamline software development workflows. Under his leadership, Windsurf quickly became one of Silicon Valley's most promising names in AI infrastructure.