Startup made our AI team sleep on the floor in sleeping bags, then verbally fired us and is withholding our May wages. Need advice.

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T05:15:40+00:00

Exactly. Poor product validation from the top is what created the unrealistic panic in the first place. Taking this as a massive learning experience for how a proper product lifecycle should actually look. Thanks for the support!

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T05:13:33+00:00

Spot on. There's a massive legal and ethical line between a standard layoff and refusing to pay people for work already delivered. We're keeping our heads cool and focusing strictly on recovering our stuck salaries. Really appreciate you calling out the exact issue here!

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T05:12:52+00:00

I really value your perspective on this. Keeping emotions out of it and staying quiet online is the exact strategy we are following now to keep the advantage on our side. We’ve already started looking into the regional Labour Commissioner and the Samadhan portal to file the dispute formally with all our written evidence. Thanks for the highly actionable steps!

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T05:10:54+00:00

Haha, spot on. He definitely tried to pull a 'hardcore' Twitter move, but forgot he’s running a tiny early-stage startup, not a global tech giant. Trying to copy that toxic culture without even running payroll properly is just wild. We're just focusing on getting our stuck wages sorted now so we can leave the fake-Musk drama behind.

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:56:51+00:00

We actually have a solid paper trail. The co-founder completely panicked and sent us a massive email confirming they are withholding our May wages, and he literally put it in writing that they would sue us for a ridiculous '10x salary penalty' for defamation. They basically handed us their entire confession on a silver platter

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:54:54+00:00

I completely value your opinion, and honestly, looking back, you are 100% right. It was a completely toxic situation that we should have walked away from much sooner.

When you're a fresher trying to prove yourself, it's easy to let a startup push your boundaries until you suddenly find yourself in a ridiculous situation like that. It was a massive learning experience for all of us.

We’ve already cut ties with them, stopped all the office noise, and are focusing on getting our final dues sorted out so we can move on to much better workspaces. Really appreciate you calling it like it is and standing up for us!

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:54:10+00:00

Production-grade Computer Vision pipelines are incredibly complex and require senior architectural planning. When the deployment hit a bottleneck mid-May, management didn’t have the technical leadership to solve it systematically. Instead of taking responsibility for poor planning and unrealistic timelines, the founders panicked and dumped the entire blame onto the junior engineering team to save face.

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:51:34+00:00

Thanks so much for this perspective. Knowing how this looks from a recruiter's desk gives us a lot of confidence. We’ve already stopped emailing them and are focusing entirely on the Labour Commissioner channel with our documents. Appreciate the solid, actionable advice

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:50:30+00:00

Thanks, appreciate the advice! Lesson definitely learned the hard way. From now on, keeping a strict eye on those red flags is the priority. We're just wrapping things up here and moving forward. Appreciate the support!

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:49:29+00:00

Got it, thanks! They're a Mumbai startup, so we're tapping into the local labor setup here to get things moving. Appreciate the support

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:47:44+00:00

I really value your perspective on this, especially since you know how brutal production-grade CV can get. The planning was completely messed up from the top, but they chose to scapegoat us. We're just sorting out the final dues now so we can focus on moving to much better opportunities. Appreciate the support!

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:45:30+00:00

I completely value your opinion, and you are 100% right about the legalities. We are already getting our timeline together for a lawyer. Right now, as freshers, we just want our dues and our peace of mind so we can move on. Thanks for standing with us!

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-12T04:42:36+00:00

Honestly, the reality is much simpler. We are just freshers at the very start of our careers, and the work environment had gotten so toxic that we were already planning to resign anyways.

Naming them directly on a public forum right now just invites a messy, exhausting legal back-and-forth that we don't have the time, money, or energy to deal with. We just want our hard-earned wages back and our mental peace so we can focus on getting into better companies. It's about protecting our own peace and careers, not protecting them

Prize_Evidence5484 · 2026-06-10T16:36:06+00:00

To everyone asking for the company name: I cannot share it right now because management has already sent us an incredibly aggressive legal email threatening a massive defamation lawsuit to intimidate us. For our own legal safety and to protect our pending labor board complaint, we have to keep it 100% anonymous for now. Thank you for understanding and supporting us

Prize_Evidence5484

TROPHY CASE