2 weeks ago
Indian H-1B visa holder loses startup job, seeks immediate employment
An engineer named Prayut Jain worked at a young company called Rayni.
He cared about the company and worked very hard, like it was his own.
While he was there, his dad got very sick with a bad lung illness in India.
His dad needed machines called a ventilator and ECMO to help him breathe.
Jain flew to India to be with his dad, but he kept working from there.
Two weeks later, the company told him he could no longer work there.
This happened close to the day he was supposed to earn a big reward of company ownership.
Jain also has a special work visa called an H-1B, which means he could lose the right to stay in the US if he has no job.
Now he is asking people on LinkedIn to help him find a new job very quickly.
Many people who read his story said other workers have had similar bad experiences too.
AI Engineer Prayut Jain lost his job at startup Rayni weeks before an October equity vesting milestone.
As an H-1B visa holder, Jain's US immigration status is now directly threatened.
The termination came about two weeks after he flew to India, where his father was on ventilator and ECMO support with severe pneumonia.
Doctors said his father's lungs were not recovering, making a lung transplant the only remaining medical option.
Jain is seeking roles in Applied AI or GenAI, including Founding AI Engineering and technical leadership, and is appealing for introductions on LinkedIn.
- Who
- Prayut Jain, an AI Engineer at startup Rayni who holds an H-1B visa and works in the US.
- What
- Lost his job weeks before an equity vesting milestone, threatening his immigration status, and is now seeking immediate employment on LinkedIn.
- Where
- United States, where Jain worked and built his career, and India, where his father is hospitalized.
- When
- About two weeks after he flew to India to be with his hospitalized father; his equity milestone was scheduled for October.
- Why
- The startup said it had to make difficult choices, ending his employment just before an equity cliff and leaving him needing to quickly secure a new job to maintain his H-1B status.
Employee and worker advocates
Business-priority perspective
Ownership and the equity cliff
Employee and worker advocates
Early employees are asked to think and act like owners, so ownership should not simply disappear once employees become inconvenient; losing nearly a year of earned ownership right before an equity cliff is unfair, even if contracts technically allow it.
Business-priority perspective
Contracts technically allow such outcomes under the law, and the company made a difficult choice it had to make; ending employment before vesting can be a valid business decision.
People versus company growth
Employee and worker advocates
Accountability toward the people building companies should be part of a startup's foundation; one LinkedIn commenter described a similar case where HR failed to address their equity question formally.
Business-priority perspective
For any company, startup or otherwise, the main priority is topline and bottomline growth, and for the majority the human aspect often comes last—that is the hard reality.
Key facts
- Person
- Prayut Jain
- Role
- AI Engineer
- Former employer
- Rayni (startup)
- Visa status
- H-1B holder
- Equity milestone
- Scheduled for October
- Seeking roles
- Applied AI or GenAI; Founding AI Engineering; technical leadership
- Father's condition
- Severe pneumonia; ventilator and ECMO support; lung transplant only remaining option
- Platform
Quotes
Prayut Jain
AI Engineer who was laid off from the startup Rayni
“I’m on H‑1B and need to move quickly. If you know someone I should speak with, I’d deeply appreciate an introduction. Or, if you’re building something ambitious and reading this, hit me up. Let’s build something.”
livemint.com
“I understand startups have to make difficult choices. But accountability toward the people building those companies should be part of their foundation.”
livemint.com
Sources
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