Egotistical Founder - Such a prick!

I know sometimes we refrain from saying too much about our company. But exes can usually be talked about, since there's not much holding back. Maybe it helps someone else avoid a mistake you did, or gain a new learning :p Shoot.

I gave an interview with a startup which is bootstrapped asked me to complete an assignment..done it near to perfection but now you would be shocked to know that a so-called co-founder blocked my number when I tried to reach for the job position/feedback. If he doesn't want to hire it's fine but blocking 😂 shows how low life he is and short term vision.

The company did around 10-15% silent layoffs in the last cycle by putting people in PIP. My Manager told me that he has pressure on him to put at least 1 or 2 people in PIP, make them leave the company and reduce costs. Later, the company did as low an appraisal as 2%. Senior folks are leaving specifically Frontend Developers. Salaries of a lot of SDE-2 are below 30 LPA. They have started new positions called Product Developers which will do the same work as SDEs but with a lesser package. PD-1 salary is around 10-12 lakhs and of Lead PD is 20-22 lakhs. The company is putting itself in a position where it wants people to leave on their own. There are almost zero perks in the company. The team outing budget is a joke which is 2k INR per person per year. That is 500 rupees per person per quarter. Also making office mandatory from November.

I have been talking to a few companies, across different size bands. Only Indian startups seem to obsessed with full week WFO/Micromanagement. A few years back, startups were known for being more flexible, now it just seems to be the reverse.

I have worked over 10 years never felt this pathetic at a freelance job which I did The founder girl used to ping 24 hrs saying stuff like it's been 1 month u are not able to complete a whole portal as of it takes only this much time building an entire portal Was paid same as what I earned on 2014 Lost my sleep because of this bullshit Assumed I will work on Christmas because I took leaves for my brothers wedding To everyone out their no one is worth your peace of mind no amount of money

*IMPORTANT* Monday morning and nobody at office. We have no option but to force strict rules now: 1. If you arrive any later than 9:55 in office, it will be marked as half day leave. 2. Lunch breaks are supposed to be max 40 mins long. I accept basic courtesy of following this, if not, I’ll tag people on the group. 3. All leaves requests need to be emailed to me. Without any record on email, we might not be able give a record of how many leaves in each bracket are left for each individual. So don’t expect this data from us, if you don’t email. Icing on the cake, CEO didn't come to the office

Several other founders out there full of immaturity, short sightedness and god complexes. Have you met any of them?

The startup is Accel and Elevation backed. The company raised seed funding because the founder and team is from IIT- Kharagpur, and Accel + Elevation have people from IIT-Kharagpur working in their team. The founder has no prior work experience, no manners on how to speak with anyone (office boy, or women employees) keeps firing people who don’t agree with him, insists on being in the office for 12 hours because he pays us. Hiring criteria is - 1. Single people, so no distraction. He asks are you single or in a relationship (in the interview) 2. No married people 3. Hire women only if they can stay in office till 5 AM (US based startup) 4. Everyone has to be in office for 12 hours compulsory for all 6 days of week He boasts on how the VCs will save his ass even if the product fails, has said that worst case scenario I will make money because I know company will be acquired. He hires domain experts, makes them create playbook and train juniors to do the work, and then fires them saying "We have to stay lean, and this is a bad market". He did this with 3 departments already. How are the VCs not asking him basic due diligence questions? He is now raising 8 million follow up round.

So I interviewed for a SaaS company serving US clients. I got selected after three rounds (basic email chat, built a project, technical coding round at last) and got selected. Finally, it was time to discuss salary and joining date with the CEO. He was impressed by the about section on my portfolio, where I mentioned that I like to go on treks, hikes, read books, lift weights, go on a run, etc. During our call he mentioned that everyone at the startup works 6-7days a week, 12hrs a day and asked if I'd be fine with it as I have a "happening life". I said that I'm not used to it but I'll manage and work in appropriate working hours. He seemed to agree on it. But he ghosted me after that, and when I pinged him in the email thread; he said he's not moving ahead with me because my other properties won't allow me to "work as much as other employees". How am I supposed to react to this lol

I was in an interview with a CEO of an 8 year old startup. The dude was vaping during the interview. Kept saying “whatever” to all my achievements, didn’t even see my resume before starting the interview. Stretched a 30 minutes call to 75 minutes where I only spoke for 15 maybe. I immediately withdrew my application post the call. Did anyone ever experience bad behaviour from the interviewer?