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Quit my job at a scam/fraud tech startup yesterday. JFC is this common?
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:01 AM Author: aromatic olive sneaky criminal theater Found something new and literally quit without notice yesterday. I don't mind burning that bridge because I was there less than a year, and my manager (the CEO) was a psychopath.
The company has grown to several hundred people, and it seemed like lots of engineers were working overtime to deliver features. The office even had this elaborate "command center" to monitor their software for outages.
A few weeks ago I was part of a team that visited the company's primary customer. They literally had only three people toying with the software with no plan to actually start using the software for the foreseeable future.
The company has an insane valuation that is completely made up; probably 80% of the company is working overtime and burning out to build something that is literally not being used for any real application by any customer, and that's unlikely to change for a long time.
It saw a revolving door of executives during my short time there. I walked out through that door yesterday. |
Date: July 19th, 2025 9:07 AM Author: pearly wonderful point out the company (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114037) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:10 AM Author: Turquoise Police Squad this is majority of "startups", burn out the people doing the actual work so founders and execs get $$$ (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114038) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:12 AM Author: Aphrodisiac violet address sadly cr (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114041) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:15 AM Author: pearly wonderful point yeah, but it sounds like OP was in that small subset of startups that grew much larger than average and could have a $1B+ valuation (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114045) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:19 AM Author: twisted chest-beating fortuitous meteor (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114049) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 2:16 PM Author: Long TERF War for PeterBoi Poon ( ) Yep (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114425) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:19 AM Author: aromatic olive sneaky criminal theater I don't feel comfortable doing that at the moment. Too many rich and powerful people behind this company. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114048) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:29 AM Author: pearly wonderful point here's your lesson: avoid all startups except those with a very high likelihood of doing an IPO. sell all stock ASAP after the IPO and gtfo (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114054) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:30 AM Author: twisted chest-beating fortuitous meteor (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114055) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:11 AM Author: pearly wonderful point tech companies typically rely on "puffery" and not outright fraud -- their lies and exaggerations are basically as extreme as they can be without entering fraud territory. of course, the shadier companies do actually enter fraud territory, which is not as common. sounds like yours may have done that, though (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114040) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:22 AM Author: aromatic olive sneaky criminal theater I don't know enough to say with certainty that they committed fraud, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.
That job was a fucking nightmare. Insane CEO. Crazy turnover. I'm glad I found something new at an established company. |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:46 AM Author: Talented Hissy Fit Motherfucker, have you ever been an executive at a startup that raised a shitload of money??? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114072) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 10:09 AM Author: pearly wonderful point worked at multiple startups, but never made it to the executive level because i left the startup world in my 20s; too young and not enough connections/luck to become an executive at that age. furthest i got was principal engineer reporting to the CTO. but i do have a few friends who have been executives at startups, and their experience matches what i poasted (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114087) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 10:25 AM Author: twisted chest-beating fortuitous meteor From my experience at startups, tech people don’t understand applicable laws and regulations. They just drink whatever koolaid they’re given. So even if they were the CTO they’re prob clueless (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114106) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 10:49 AM Author: cucumbers that's because startups tend to hire young and inexperienced people who haven't realized that the startup world is built on lies and burn out. the CTO i reported to happened to have over two decades of real industry experience, but i've seen countless startup "CTOs" in their late 20s/early 30s. those are definitely clueless (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114142) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:00 PM Author: Fucking Fuckface This is right. It's made even worse by the burning desire almost all CEOs of high profile startups have to be the next Elon Musk by "disrupting" everything and overpromising if it gets money through the door (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49115296) |
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Date: July 25th, 2025 6:31 AM Author: Long TERF War for PeterBoi Poon ( ) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49129943) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:32 AM Author: free-loading factory reset button did u have to take a pay cut (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114056) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:37 AM Author: aromatic olive sneaky criminal theater Very different compensation package at the new job. Might make more depending on bonus, but overall it's an insignificant difference. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114062) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:41 AM Author: free-loading factory reset button ah interesting, well that just sounds good then (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114067) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:40 AM Author: Talented Hissy Fit I did this at a unicorn startup. Took a role in a supposedly well-run, growing portco thinking PE would be lazer focused on results and an exit. Been an overall worse experience AND less money
It really feels like the world is one big punked episode that's in the portion of the setup where some people realize something is fucked, while other people are doubling and tripling down |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 9:53 AM Author: Sepia mind-boggling hominid so did unicorn go public? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114078) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 10:12 AM Author: pearly wonderful point "unicorn" is really meaningless because startup valuations are always just made up and severely inflated, either to get bought out at a higher price or a better IPO
PE tends to gut startups and create a shit work environment |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 10:42 AM Author: salmon spectacular gay wizard mad cow disease Hahaha yeah (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114126) |
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Date: July 19th, 2025 10:42 AM Author: Amethyst Temple (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5752272&forum_id=2Reputation#49114127) |