Startup CEO claims he can make his employees millionaires in a year, but there's a condition attached. Reddit trolls him

A young startup founder found himself at the center of an online storm after a bold and controversial recruitment post he shared on LinkedIn went viral for all the wrong reasons. His post was soon picked up and widely mocked on the notorious subreddit LinkedIn Lunatics, a forum known for calling out exaggerated corporate jargon and questionable work culture demands.

In the now-infamous post, the CEO announced that he was seeking tech co-founders to join his startup venture. He detailed an ambitious plan to rapidly develop and launch multiple products on a tight timeline in hopes of attracting investors. According to his vision, each product would ideally be built within a week, suggesting an aggressive, non-stop work cycle with no room for delays or downtime.

The post further raised eyebrows when the founder specified that ideal candidates should be “young” and “available full-time”—and he meant really full-time. The commitment expected was 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. There was no mention of breaks, days off, or even sleep, prompting critics to question the unrealistic and exploitative nature of the job description.

Despite this extreme workload, the post made it clear that there would be no fixed salary until the startup managed to raise external funding. Instead, those who joined would be compensated with equity. The founder promised potential future rewards—perhaps even millionaire status—within just 12 months, provided that applicants were, in his words, “crazy enough” to chase such a dream.

He outlined the qualifications he was looking for with minimal formality: candidates had to be “super good” at either full-stack or game development, and ideally, they should have prior hands-on experience building “cool products.” The tone of the post was informal, bordering on unprofessional, and the expectations came across as both vague and extreme.

The backlash online was swift. Users on Reddit and other platforms criticized the post for glorifying hustle culture to an unhealthy degree, lacking empathy, and promoting an unsustainable work-life model. Many pointed out the legal and ethical implications of asking people to work without pay under such intense pressure, particularly while targeting “young” developers—a demographic often exploited in the tech startup world.

Redditors React

Netizens had a field day roasting the entrepreneur named Sam Baisla. One comment read, "Wow sounds very tempting - expectation of round the clock availability AND you don’t get paid?"

Another quipped, "I have an idea that I haven't researched to see if it's been tried before, no funding, no skills, and no network of people who can help me. Come do my shit for me for no pay until we figure out it's not viable and I let everyone go, taking the one good nugget of code you wrote and selling it to someone with an actual idea."

Who Is Sam Baisla?

Baisla is a graduate of Annamalai University. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He is the founder and CEO of Sales Brigade, a firm that trains promising sales professionals.