Copyright news18
Starting a new job is usually exciting, a chance to grow, meet new people, and take on fresh challenges. But for one man in the United States, his first day at a new company turned out to be his last. He claims that what he saw and experienced at the startup made him quit within hours. Jared Steele, who worked as chief of staff at Opal Dex, shared his story online about joining Giga, an AI startup founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep, both IIT Kharagpur graduates. The company, based in the US, builds voice-based AI agents and recently raised $61 million (Rs 540 crore) in Series A funding. While the news made headlines for its success, Steele’s account painted a very different picture of life inside the company. Employee Raises Alarming Claims In his post on X (formerly Twitter), Steele said that he was hired earlier this year to lead demand generation at Giga but decided to quit after just one day because of “red flags everywhere.” He claimed there were major differences between what was promised during hiring and what he saw after joining, including his title, pay, and the company’s actual revenue. According to Steele, the numbers displayed on Giga’s internal dashboards were far lower than what he had been told earlier. He also alleged that during one internal discussion, company leaders made inappropriate remarks, including saying, “When we hit $10m (Rs 88 crore) ARR, we’re going to spend $100k (Rs 8.8 crore) on [illegal stuff]” and joking about “sacrificing a goat in India.” Long Hours and No Time Off Steele further claimed that employees were pushed to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with little to no time off. The company’s paid leave policy, he said, could be changed anytime by the management. He added that before joining, he had informed Giga about two weddings he needed to attend and was told it wouldn’t be a problem. But after signing the contract, he was told those leaves would no longer be allowed. multiple former giga employees have reached out since my last post. the rabbit hole goes deep here. going to share more in the coming days. no amount of hr training will fix founders like this. https://t.co/cLKZzcINIu pic.twitter.com/SGtseJQv7v — jared (@Steele_Jared) November 8, 2025 “I Was Snubbed on My First Day” The last straw, Steele said, came on his first day at work. After driving 26 hours across the country from Austin to San Francisco to join the startup, he arrived early and waited to greet the founder. “First day of work, I got in early. Founder walks in my direction, I stand up, extend my hand for a handshake. He snubs me, not even an acknowledgement,” he wrote on X. “I just moved my entire life and not even a ‘welcome to the team’ or a hello.” Feeling disrespected and uncomfortable, Steele decided to walk away that very day. “Quitting after day one was the easiest decision of my life,” he said towards the end. As of now, neither Giga nor Varun Vummadi has publicly commented on the allegations. Debate Erupts on Social Media The post, shared on X on November 6, has crossed 1.1 million views and sparked a range of reactions. A user commented, “Startup culture, especially in the Bay Area, is tough. If you don’t fit in, just leave, there are plenty of others ready to take your place.” Another wrote, “It’s easy to destroy, harder to build. Feel bad for whoever hired you.” A person added, “You figured all that out in one day? Sounds believable.” Someone else said bluntly, “You’ve made yourself unhireable now.”
