Ex-Meta director Rohit Patel's AI startup rival Microsoft and Google Workspace

After spending eight years building artificial intelligence systems at Meta, Rohit Patel has decided to step out on his own. The former director at Meta's Superintelligence Labs told TechCrunch that he has left the tech giant to start his own AI company called Ndoc. His goal is massive: to replace the everyday work tools we all rely on, like Microsoft Office and Google Workspace.Patel's departure follows a recent trend of high-profile exits from Meta, including Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, AI researcher Andrew Tulloch, and Head of Product for AI-for-Work Emily Dalton Smith. Now, Patel is using his expertise to build an AI-native workspace from the ground up.An all-in-one workspaceInstead of jumping between Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and copying text from ChatGPT, Patel wants Ndoc to be a single place for all office work. The platform replaces traditional software with a simple three-tab layout.The 'Stage' tab is where presentations, dashboards, and slide decks live. The 'Narrative' tab holds detailed reports, charts, and the story behind your numbers. Finally, the 'Model' tab houses the raw data and the background computer code. Because of his background in evaluating if AI is trustworthy, Patel built Ndoc to be completely transparent. If the AI creates a spreadsheet or a chart, it also shows you the exact Python script it used to calculate those numbers. Even if you do not know how to code, you can ask the built-in AI chat to explain the formula line by line, ensuring there is no hidden math behind the scenes.Reinventing the simple fileOne of Patel's biggest ideas is to change how files work entirely. Ndoc allows users to export their work as a single ".ndoc.html" file that can be opened in any standard web browser. Patel plans to make this format open-source, meaning other developers can build tools for it without forcing users to stay locked into the Ndoc platform. This desire to make the file format open-source is a big reason why he left Meta. At a massive tech company, getting approval for an open-source format would take the input of hundreds of people. By starting his own company, Patel says he can move at the fast pace of AI rather than the slow pace of corporate approvals.Taking on the tech giantsChallenging heavyweights like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI is a huge bet for a founder with a team of three and no outside funding. Right now, most tech giants are simply adding AI features to their old spreadsheet and document apps. Patel strongly believes this is the wrong approach.He compared the current tech landscape to discovering electricity and using it just to strap lights onto bulls to till a field, instead of simply building a tractor. Ndoc is designed to be that tractor. To keep running costs much lower than competitors, the startup relies on a mix of open-source AI models rather than expensive, heavy-duty frontier models.Ndoc also features built-in connectors so users can easily import their existing data from the tools they already use.When can you use it?Patel is holding off on raising outside funding until he proves that customers genuinely love the product. Currently, Ndoc is in an alpha testing phase with a small group of early users who joined a waitlist.While the software is free to sign up for, customers will eventually pay for usage. A beta version is expected in the coming weeks, and the startup is targeting a full commercial release for Ndoc in 2027.- Ends