The CEO published an open letter to clarify the situation.
A viral exchange between a startup founder and a college student has sparked a heated debate on whether the prestige of one’s college should decide salary expectations.
A rejected offer:
The controversy began when entrepreneur and former software engineer Vinayak Sarawagi took to social media platform X to share a screenshot of his conversation with a student who rejected an internship offer due to “low pay”.
“I am sorry it won’t work for me. Being from a Tier 1 college, this is too low for me. Hope you understand,” the student wrote.
Taking to social media to express his frustration, Sarawagi remarked, “I thought this mindset was going away, but sadly it’s not.”
I thought this mindset was going away, but sadly it’s not pic.twitter.com/AaOHVh8vhv
— Vinayak Sarawagi (@vinayak2506) November 30, 2024
Soon after, a screenshot of him responding to an X user, revealing that the salary offered to the college student was ₹10,000, was also published.
The Internet Weighs In:
Sarawagi’s post soon went viral across social media, garnering almost 295k views till date along with a flood of comments.
Namely, it ignited a wave of backlash and criticism towards the CEO, with many terming his low pay as unjust and “exploitive”, and praising the graduate for refusing to settle.
“Founder gets sad when someone from a tier-1 college refuses to join at ₹10,000 per month. Zamindaari nahi jaayegi is desh se (Feudal mindset won’t leave this country),” X user Ravi Handa said.
“It’s not like you’re facing any loss. it’s like a business deal didn’t work out. Don’t have to shame the poor kid for not liking what you’re paying,” another observed.
“10k a month is actually quite low,” another added.
However, some also criticized the graduate’s expectation of a higher stipend merely because of their college background.
One user wrote, “If he had rephrased it as something like: ‘I believe I possess strong skills and deserve more than what’s offered. Therefore, I cannot accept this offer,’ it would have been more professional.”
CEO Publishes Open Letter:
In response to the backlash, the CEO took to X once again to publish an “open letter” clarifying the situation. He explained his rationale behind the salary offer, claiming that he was using his savings to pay interns at the open source framework he was building. He also acknowledged that many other candidates had bluntly rejected his salary offer.
“I know the stipend is low. hence I try to offer other comforts like flexible hours. There are many other people paying much more than I am. So calling me a zamindar without knowing it all is not cool,” Sarawagi said.
He also wrote that the candidate reached out to him after he posted the job opening in a group, after which the founder outlived his expectations, monthly stipends and the remote nature of the job.
“The candidate is not wrong here, and I wish him the best of luck! I just posted this screenshot because I could see that the ‘Tier 1’ debate is still not over yet,” he concluded.
View the Open Letter below:
Hello sir, huge respect for you. But since you posted here without discussing it with me, I thought I would post here.
Don’t know how to do long form replies here, so posting the note here. pic.twitter.com/LN57tUHHWX
— Vinayak Sarawagi (@vinayak2506) December 1, 2024
The exchange has reopened discussions on whether college pedigree should influence pay expectations and how startups balance limited resources with attracting top talent
