Om Patel / X (@om_patel5)

A 16-year-old Indian-origin entrepreneur has accused a customer of attempting to “destroy” his startup and personal reputation following a brief technical glitch that was fixed within minutes.

In a series of posts on X, Om Patel, founder of BigIdeasDB, said the incident began shortly after a customer purchased a subscription and experienced a login-related issue. 

Also Read: Starbucks taps Indian-origin Anand Varadarajan as new CTO

Patel said the problem was resolved in under five minutes, but the customer responded with what he described as harassment and intimidation.

“Someone just tried to destroy my startup and reputation over a 30-second bug fix,” Patel wrote, adding that the customer accused the product of being a “complete scam,” threatened chargebacks, and warned of contacting Stripe to “remove our integration.”

someone just tried to destroy my startup and reputation

over a 30-second bug fix

despite immediately fixing the issue, he

> called it a "complete scam"
> threatened chargebacks
> threatened to contact stripe to "remove our integration"
> said he'd spam "every hackernews… pic.twitter.com/DD6LqDXrwa

— Om Patel (@om_patel5) December 30, 2025

According to Patel, the customer also threatened to post negative comments on “every Hacker News article and Reddit post” related to the company and even claimed he would reach out to Patel’s professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Screenshots shared by Patel show the customer demanding an immediate refund and alleging that the platform’s content was fabricated.

Patel said he offered a full refund immediately, without conditions, and processed it despite having already fixed the issue. However, he claimed the threats continued even after the refund was issued.

“I offered a full refund immediately. No questions asked. Problem solved, right? Wrong,” Patel wrote. “Even after processing his refund, he continued with threats and hostile messages. Some people think they can bully you because of your age.”

The teenager said he later discovered that the customer described himself as a “respected founder” within the startup community. “Imagine being so entitled that a 30-second technical glitch makes you try to destroy a 16-year-old’s entire future,” Patel added.

In the same post, Patel shared advice for other founders dealing with hostile customers, urging them to remain professional, document all interactions, offer refunds when appropriate, and not be shaken by threats. 

“Building startups is hard enough without people trying to destroy your reputation,” he wrote.

Patel, an Indo-Canadian entrepreneur, founded BigIdeasDB to help founders identify startup ideas by analyzing user complaints and feedback from sources such as app reviews and online forums. 

He began learning to code at the age of 12 during the COVID-19 pandemic and launched the platform in early 2024. According to Patel, BigIdeasDB has generated more than CAD $23,000 in revenue since its launch.

A 16-year-old Indian-origin entrepreneur has accused a customer of attempting to “destroy” his startup and personal reputation following a brief technical glitch that was fixed within minutes.

In a series of posts on X, Om Patel, founder of BigIdeasDB, said the incident began shortly after a customer purchased a subscription and experienced a login-related issue. 

Also Read: Starbucks taps Indian-origin Anand Varadarajan as new CTO

Patel said the problem was resolved in under five minutes, but the customer responded with what he described as harassment and intimidation.

“Someone just tried to destroy my startup and reputation over a 30-second bug fix,” Patel wrote, adding that the customer accused the product of being a “complete scam,” threatened chargebacks, and warned of contacting Stripe to “remove our integration.”

someone just tried to destroy my startup and reputation

over a 30-second bug fix

despite immediately fixing the issue, he

> called it a "complete scam"
> threatened chargebacks
> threatened to contact stripe to "remove our integration"
> said he'd spam "every hackernews… pic.twitter.com/DD6LqDXrwa

— Om Patel (@om_patel5) December 30, 2025

According to Patel, the customer also threatened to post negative comments on “every Hacker News article and Reddit post” related to the company and even claimed he would reach out to Patel’s professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Screenshots shared by Patel show the customer demanding an immediate refund and alleging that the platform’s content was fabricated.

Patel said he offered a full refund immediately, without conditions, and processed it despite having already fixed the issue. However, he claimed the threats continued even after the refund was issued.

“I offered a full refund immediately. No questions asked. Problem solved, right? Wrong,” Patel wrote. “Even after processing his refund, he continued with threats and hostile messages. Some people think they can bully you because of your age.”

The teenager said he later discovered that the customer described himself as a “respected founder” within the startup community. “Imagine being so entitled that a 30-second technical glitch makes you try to destroy a 16-year-old’s entire future,” Patel added.

In the same post, Patel shared advice for other founders dealing with hostile customers, urging them to remain professional, document all interactions, offer refunds when appropriate, and not be shaken by threats. 

“Building startups is hard enough without people trying to destroy your reputation,” he wrote.

Patel, an Indo-Canadian entrepreneur, founded BigIdeasDB to help founders identify startup ideas by analyzing user complaints and feedback from sources such as app reviews and online forums. 

He began learning to code at the age of 12 during the COVID-19 pandemic and launched the platform in early 2024. According to Patel, BigIdeasDB has generated more than CAD $23,000 in revenue since its launch.