Bengaluru Entrepreneur Faces Backlash For "Unpaid" Job Ad, He Reacts

A Bengaluru-based founder has reacted after being criticised online for advertising unpaid jobs on LinkedIn. In his post, Sridhar Arunagiri, the founder of asset management firm 16VC, shared vacancies for four roles within his company. He mentioned that he would only hire a "top performer" who would be expected to work out of their Bengaluru office, with no remote or hybrid flexibility. "This is an unpaid role until you match all the checklist," he wrote adding, "This is not a 9-to-5. this is a high-speed, high-impact opportunity for those who want to build something massive." 

Mr Arunagiri posted four vacancies - product manager, software engineer (full stack), UX designer and growth marketer. "We're not hiring anyone just because they have the right skills on paper or some outdated projects. come join us, prove what you can do in a real environment, and from the next month, we'll make it paid," he wrote. 

Mr Arunagiri has sparked backlash online. While some users slammed the founder for the requirements, others compared the entire thing with "slavery and "reality shows". 

"The job requirements make it seem like candidates are expected to sign an agreement to endure unlimited pressure in exchange for a salary. Sir, it's commendable that you're building something great, but it's equally important to treat humans as humans and engineers as engineers-not as LLMs running on high-end GPUs," wrote one user. 

"I've seen Slavery conditions better than this," remarked another. "Lol, what a way of telling that you have the most toxic culture ever & what's up with this unpaid role thing until you are ready. haven't seen more bs thing than this," expressed a third user. 

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However, reacting to the criticism, Mr Arunagiri in another post clarified that the position is a paid one. "There has been some misunderstanding regarding a job post we shared. i want to clarify that the intent was never to hire anyone for an unpaid position. the goal was simply to manage application volume more effectively, given the high number of applicants," he wrote. 

"we have now successfully hired candidates for these roles, and they will be paid from day 1, as has always been our commitment. we appreciate the feedback and understand the concerns raised. transparency and fairness in hiring are core to us, and we will ensure better communication in the future. thank you for your patience and understanding," he added.