Rant: Maybe I should have been a whistleblower earlier (Mojocare aftermath)

This is an after thought from what happened at Mojocare and Gomechanic.

I too have been at a startup that was upto similar stuff. Was really large at one point, until everyone figured something was off.

For me, the first year or so I never got a hint of things. But over time, as I became closer and more trusted by the founders, things became quite clear. Creation of invoices for the sake of it, recording transactions that were anyway happening in the offline world, as transactions on the platform. Basically buying invoices by giving back businesses some of the VC capital as incentives. It was all messed up.

I always thought of doing something once I figured it out, but ended up not doing it. My only action was to find new roles, and leave as soon as I could. I remember discussing with friends - should I reach out to journalists? The answer we came to was that it's too risky, even if done anonymously. AND, that people we know would lose their jobs if the reality came out.

Eventually, it did come out. More people lost their jobs, because in that 1 year they ended up growing more and hiring more. Maybe if I'd been a whistleblower earlier, a lot of money could have been saved, so many jobs would not be lost.

A thank you to the people who have been braver than I was.