Former Meta AI Director Rohit Patel Launches Startup Ndoc to Challenge Office Suits

Rohit Patel has left Meta after eight years to launch a new startup called Ndoc, which aims to compete directly with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace. Patel previously served as a director at Meta Superintelligence Labs, where he spent his tenure working on reinforcement learning and AI evaluation methods. His exit follows a series of high-profile departures from Meta that also include Joel Kaplan, Andrew Tulloch, and Emily Dalton Smith.

Platform Features

Ndoc is designed as an all-in-one workspace meant to replace the scattered use of tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Tableau, and Replit. The platform combines three core sections into a single layout. The Stage tab houses slide decks, dashboards, and mini apps. The Narrative tab contains analysis, generated figures, and numbered citations. The Model tab holds the underlying datasets and Python scripts. Patel built the platform using a mix of open-source models, allowing it to run at a lower operating cost.

Business Plans

Patel currently operates with a small team of three people and has not taken any outside funding yet. Ndoc launched an enterprise pilot and opened an alpha version for a limited group of users on the waitlist. The platform is free to join, while users pay based on usage and tokens. Patel plans to release a beta version in the coming weeks and aims for a full public launch next year.

Context

Founders of early-stage startups often bootstrap their operations initially to maintain full control over the product roadmap before seeking external venture capital. Transitioning users away from deeply entrenched office productivity software remains one of the hardest challenges for new enterprise technology platforms.