Pros
1. Some really smart and talented colleagues 2. Exposure to fast-paced, hands-on work 3. If you're lucky, you might land on a team that supports you, but that's a gamble 4. You’ll learn how to think on your feet, mostly because you have no choice.
Kontras
1. Zero accountability from the top. Leadership shifts responsibility, avoids hard conversations, and resorts to power plays when things get uncomfortable. 2. “Ownership” is a lie. Every move is micromanaged, second-guessed, and picked apart until you lose confidence in your own judgment. You’re not being mentored, you’re being controlled. 3. No HR neutrality. HR works in fear or complete silence. Don’t expect unbiased handling of concerns or transparency around any processes. 4. A lot of promises around feedback and growth, but feedback is often personal, unclear, or contradictory. Growth only happens if you stay silent and agreeable. 5. The culture is fear-driven, not people-first. If you question anything, you’re seen as difficult. If you raise valid concerns, you’re labelled a threat. 6. The leave policy is laughable. Even if applied for well in advance, leaves are frequently revoked, cut down to half-days, or questioned extensively. 7. The 54-hour workweek (9 hours/day, 6 days/week) is just the baseline, employees are still expected to stay late, stretch more, and “just make it happen”, with unrealistic expectations masked as “ownership.” Rest is seen as weakness. Saying no is seen as disloyalty. 8. Workload is relentless. Burnout is common, and employees frequently fall sick from the pace. 9. Employees are expected to work even while commuting. Sales calls, follow-ups, Google Sheets updates - all of it happens while you’re in the metro or outside working hours. The official 10:30 to 7:30 schedule is a joke. 10. There's no room to fail safely. One misstep and you're made to feel like you're replaceable. People operate out of fear, not curiosity or growth. 11. New trainers, including freshers, receive barely 2 days of training before being expected to absorb complex content, understand clients, deliver modules, and manage logistics. If they underperform, they’re given harsh feedback, placed on PIPs, or issued warnings, with little support or ramp-up time. 12. You're barely acknowledged when you do well, but if you make a mistake - expect multiple messages, tags, and group callouts. 13. Recognition is selective and biased. Years of commitment are often overlooked in favor of flashy short-term performers, especially those in sales or demo roles. 14. Feedback culture is one-sided. While leadership claims to encourage openness, most feedback is either ignored, taken personally, or treated as disloyalty. They don’t want your voice. They want your obedience. 15. Basic employee benefits? None. No health insurance. No sick leave. No bonuses. No performance incentives. In my experience, you get the bare minimum, and even that comes with strings attached. 16. Salary payments are delayed by default. 30 days of pay is released after 40-45 days of work. You work in good faith. They pay when it suits them. 17. Attrition is alarmingly high. In just two months, 8-10 people left, with no real effort made to understand or retain them. There’s no culture of employee retention, only of replacement. 18. Employees are asked to relocate during onboarding, since WFH isn’t supported. They move cities, pay rent, and bear expenses only to be let go without notice under vague claims that “it isn’t working out.” You uproot your life for this job. They discard you like you never mattered. 19. New joiners are subtly pushed to write glowing Glassdoor reviews a few weeks into joining - before they’ve seen the reality. It’s performative reputation management, not genuine pride. 20. People are constantly shuffled between teams they didn’t sign up for. HR to Sales. Sales to Content. Content to Sales. Sales to Training. No clarity, no consent. 21. A lot of talk about trust, ownership, and people-first values, but the reality is often controlling, emotionally reactive, and inconsistent. Some reviews here say “you were told up front” or “this is just how startups work.” Being transparent about a toxic culture doesn’t make it less toxic. It just means you’re normalizing dysfunction. And no, we weren’t told everything. We weren’t told about how deep the burnout runs, how unsafe disagreement feels, or how little real support shows up when you need it. What’s promised during onboarding is a sanitized pitch. What actually plays out is chaos, reactivity, and pressure dressed up as passion. Expectations aren’t just misaligned, they’re unreal. To the people still writing glowing reviews: I get it. You're scared, or you still believe things will change. But when you finally leave - and most people do - you’ll look back and realize how much of yourself you gave to a place that gave you nothing real in return.