Award for the most fucked up startup goes to ……?

What are some unethical thngs your funded company founders and core nepotism team.hve done?? Ex my ex company founder hired wife, sister, and friends as board of director giving 4 seats to the family itself + fancy designations like cfo, coo cmo and ceo. All took 5 lakhs per month each as salary which means 20 lakhs going home from VC funded money per month. 1 million fundraise goes home in about 3 - 4 years used to set up paralell businesses, etc and no money made in core business

It was a pretty tense situation at the office. Nearly all engineering managers were laid off, most of the SDE-2s who were not the core engineering team and a lot of SDE-1s who had just joined this year. Even the interns were let go today. Pretty scary scenario today. Just putting out an update. Apparently it was done to please the investors for the next series of funding. Can't say for sure though.

I was speaking to an ex-colleague and he mentioned how my previous employer, a lending startup, has been intentionally over-reporting disbursal numbers and under-reporting delinquencies in portfolio. They conveniently chuck the NBFC partners who dare to ask questions and instead catch new fish. During my time I saw sales staff committing rampant frauds and making money on the sides from users. The founders conveniently turned a blind eye till there was new business coming in. They've seemingly moved on to the next level now. The founders have top pedigree and already come from well off families. Makes me wonder how many such skeletons are buried across startups and what leads to such behaviour. Especially in the wake of what we saw with GoMechanic, Zilingo etc.

Currently I'm just wondering why interviews feels so fake especially the behavioural ones, which I actually struggle with. I think it's just a game where candidates say what the interviewer wants to hear instead of trying to know the real character of the candidate. Compared to coffee chats, I think you can actually know about a person more than when you actually do interviews. Any thoughts here?

Bad Culture, Politics, etc. Give some names that one should avoid at all costs.

Can anyone share for the benefit of those who are keen to avoid making mistakes..

What are some of the Startups known for their terrible work environment? Apart from the usual suspects in the edtech space.

What an absolute shit show https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/fraud-threats-sexual-harassment-zilingos-ankiti-bose-files-fir-against-co-founder-ex-coo-12706929.html

Went for pitching my startup with my cofounder and found him openly flirting and trying to be friendly. Have you guys faced this? Isn’t this blatant abuse of power? Wondering if I should name the firm but scared.