Techie reveals the one question which made HR leave the interview call: ‘I asked what their…’

A techie recently revealed how one simple question from him led to the HR storming out of the interview call in anger. Taking to the subreddit Developers India, an engineer wrote how he had a ten minute interview with AI/ML drone startup. The offer was subpar - he was to work for two months totally unpaid and then based on his performance, he would get a stipend.

Midway in the interview, the techie asked the HR what their revenue model was. The HR manager got very offended and left the call in a flurry.

“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” he recalled.


The techie revealed he wanted to be sure the company was stable before h committed himself to working free for two months.

Redditors React

Responding to the post, one wrote: “Lmao company needs to atleast answer that. They are in the wrong dw!”

Another commented, “I have worked for multiple startups. I always ask about customers, revenue etc. These chindi 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. When I pressed them with all the questions, they painted me non performant and asked to leave. You should be proud of yourself.”

Another praised the techie for asking about revenue. The comment read: “Don't think there's anything wrong in asking that.

If anything, it shows the incompetency of the HR that they couldn't handle a difficult question.

Another comment read: “I think the question is if they are pre-revenue, self funded or have VC funding. But I can see some HR's getting offended. You really don't need to ask this till they offer you something anyway. You can also google the company and make a deduction.”