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IIT alumni startup under fire as employee quits on day one over toxic culture
The allegations come at a time when the company, Giga, has secured $61 million Series A funding.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Tue, 11, Nov 2025
- 02:29 EST
- 23
Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep, the founders of Giga / Varun Vummadi via X
AI brand Giga, started by Indian American IITian founders Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep in 2023, has courted controversy after American national Jared Steele quit the company after the very first day of starting work.
American national Steele made startling accusations against the IIT Kharagpur Alumni's company on X. Steele detailed out examples of toxic work culture and raised troubling questions about alleged ethical violations in the company.
The allegations become all the more significant amidst Giga's $61 million Series A funding by Redpoint Ventures.
Steele, in his X post, revealed that he was hired in April 2025 to lead Demand Generation for Giga and quit after the very first day because of "Red flags everywhere."
Alright, time to spill the beans on giga.
— jared (@Steele_Jared) November 6, 2025
Got hired back in April to lead demand gen for them.
Quit after the first day.
Red flags everywhere.
>”when we hit $10m arr, we’re going to spend $100k on ____”(illegal stuff)
>”we’re doing $____ in mrr”
(Dashboards in the hq… pic.twitter.com/S0hB1KPyaC
Steele alleged illegal practices and quoted the company as saying, ""when we hit $10m arr, we’re going to spend $100k on ____”(illegal stuff)".
He also alleged that the company's Monthly Recurring Revenue figures shared with him were also fudged and the actual revenue was six times lower than what was projected.
Taking concerns of corporate toxicity to another level, Steele alleged that Giga approved his time-offs before hiring and then cancelled the negotiated time-offs after hiring, claiming that the company has the right to change PTO policies at its own descrition.
Apart from his personal issues with PTOs, he also alleged that all employees were expected to work 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week.
As a final nail in the coffin of his employment with Giga, Steele pointed out the indifference he experienced from the company's founders. Steele, who was living in Austin, Texas, was given three days to uproot his entire life and move to San Francisco, California.
He said, "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 further said, "I just moved my entire life & drove 26 hours across the country & not even a “welcome to the team” or a hello."
Lamenting over the sorry state of affairs, Steele concluded the post saying, "I rarely root against founders, but this is the epitome of what’s wrong with tech/ai now."
The allegations have brought forth questions about work-life balance, especially in start-ups. As the company struggles to survive the cut-throat competition, it's survival often comes at the cost of basic rights of its employees.
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