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Antiwork

Speaking out about a toxic employer?

I worked for a small tech startup with very reputable investors a few years ago and the whole thing went south. Real south. They basically decided they weren’t making a product, they were starting a religion (not being hyperbolic), and their employees were followers who had to help spread the word. It ruined quite a few people’s lives, at least for a bit. They broke people down, isolated them from colleagues and family, and tried to build them back up in the founder’s delusional image. Anyway, the company is all but done (everyone’s been let go but the CEO is pretending things are ok) and a few of us have spent this time picking up the pieces and comparing notes, emails, screen recordings (that so many of us thought we should start recording things was probably a red flag). I have been approached by some mutuals to either work on…


I worked for a small tech startup with very reputable investors a few years ago and the whole thing went south.

Real south.

They basically decided they weren’t making a product, they were starting a religion (not being hyperbolic), and their employees were followers who had to help spread the word.

It ruined quite a few people’s lives, at least for a bit. They broke people down, isolated them from colleagues and family, and tried to build them back up in the founder’s delusional image.

Anyway, the company is all but done (everyone’s been let go but the CEO is pretending things are ok) and a few of us have spent this time picking up the pieces and comparing notes, emails, screen recordings (that so many of us thought we should start recording things was probably a red flag).

I have been approached by some mutuals to either work on a feature article or a podcast about the experience. I’m not against the idea, but just wondering if anyone else has spoken out about their former bosses in a way they feel positive about?

My former colleagues are mostly pretty happy to share their experiences, or at least they’re saying that now.

Obviously I’m asking the people proposing this about legalities (we may anonymize everything, although it would be nice to warn this person’s future employees), but I also want to know if it felt like closure.

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