American tech startup equates late pay with future success, cites Facebook and Google’s early days

“Follow up to an insane interview I had with a startup company – the audacity of these people,” the Reddit user wrote. The individual posted a text conversation with the company’s HR.

The text message shows the candidate rejecting a job offer. When asked why, the Redditor shared about spotting “numerous objective red flags,” adding that it signalled “disorganisation and chaos.” The candidate also recalled the founder’s remarks about late payment to employees. In a reply, the company defended that by citing the early days of tech giants Facebook and Google.

Take a look at the post:

How did social media react?

An individual wrote, “These types of workplaces are full of excuses and justifications as though they’ve never worked elsewhere. Whenever I tried to give feedback, even when they asked me to do illegal things, they always tried to make me seem like I was overreacting. So why do they ask?”

Another remarked, “This is typical. The people at the top of a dysfunctional startup have committed to defending the bad executive and business behaviour. They will defend it.”

A third said, ” The payroll answer is a huge red flag. It sounds like they are still having ongoing funding issues.” The OP responded, “They are. What’s funnier is that the founder, in the first interview, mind you, also said that he’s been making this app for 9 years—and it’s been a struggle, but now everything is in place, and now they’ll start actually making money! I wish I recorded the interview because it was truly nonstop red flags.”

(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)