A techie’s interview experience with a drone startup has sparked discussion online after the company’s HR allegedly left the call midway over a question about the firm’s revenue model. The candidate later shared the incident on Reddit, saying the interaction made him feel he had “dodged a red flag.”
The post quickly drew reactions from users, many of whom said asking about a company’s finances and stability during an interview is completely reasonable, especially when the role involves unpaid work.
HR Leaves Call After Candidate Asks About Revenue
According to the Reddit post, the interview was for an artificial intelligence and machine learning drone startup. The techie said the company was offering two months of unpaid work, with the possibility of a stipend later, depending on performance.
“Had a 10-min interview for an artificial intelligence/machine learning drone startup today. Terms were two months unpaid, then maybe a stipend later if I’m “adequate.” I only did it for the practice,” the user wrote.
The candidate said both the HR representative and the manager were present on the call. Toward the end of the interview, the techie decided to ask how the company earned revenue and whether the business was stable enough to grow in the future.
That question, however, reportedly did not go down well with the HR representative.
“The HR guy got super defensive, asked, ‘Are you a partner? How can you ask that?’ and just left the meeting. The manager stayed and just said ‘Sorry, we can’t share that,’” the user shared.
The techie later added, “Is asking about revenue taboo for interns? The aerospace/drone niche is cool, so I just wanted to see if they were actually stable or had potential before I even considered working for free. I think I dodged a red flag lol.”
Reddit Users Back The Techie
The post soon triggered debate online, with many users supporting the candidate and criticising the company’s reaction. Several people pointed out that questions about revenue and business stability are common, especially in startup jobs.
“Lmao, the company needs to at least answer that. They are in the wrong, don’t worry,” a user commented.
Another wrote, “Don’t think there’s anything wrong in asking that. If anything, it shows the incompetence of the HR department that they couldn’t handle a difficult question.”
A person shared their own experience working with startups and said, “I have worked for multiple startups. I always ask about customers and revenue. These small startups are only trying different things. They don’t know what works. I was left unpaid for months because they had no money to pay my salary.”
“You didn’t dodge a red flag. You dodged a whole red parade. Unpaid internship plus getting offended by a basic question about revenue means they have no revenue,” another comment read.