In yet another instance that could only happen in Bengaluru, India’s startup hub, an intern decided to leave his internship at a tech company after securing funding for his own startup. The CEO of Flexiple, Karthik Sridharan, posted a screenshot of his chat with the intern in the issue.
Sridharan, co-founder, and CEO of Flexiple, a global platform connecting tech professionals with employers, reached out to the unnamed intern via WhatsApp to inquire about their absence from work on Friday.
The intern explained that he had taken the day off to meet with a venture capitalist and ended the conversation by notifying Sridharan that his AI startup had received funding and he no longer required the internship.
“Hey, I apologize. I had to take a leave of absence to attend a VC meeting. My AI business received funding. The intern told Sridharan, “I don’t need the internship anymore. Sharing the screenshot on X, Karthik Sridharan remarked, “This only happens in Bangalore.”
The exchange sparked mixed reactions on social media. Some users expressed admiration for the intern’s achievement in securing funding and wished him success on his entrepreneurial path, while others criticized him for how he resigned from his current position.
“Glad for the kid! Just hope someone guides him to improve his communication skills as well!” commented Abhimanyu Saxena, co-founder of Scaler.
“I think this is somewhat disrespectful but understandable,” noted an X user.
Another agreed, saying that “respect for others and basic communication skills are needed no matter how young or inexperienced someone is.”
One X user joked, “I guess that internship was just the warm-up!” Another added, “Just Bengaluru things,” using the laughing face emoji.
Bengaluru is widely recognized as India’s startup hub, surpassing Delhi and Mumbai in terms of its startup ecosystem, according to Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2024.