'Broke the manager's heart': Intern claims startup fired him after salary negotiation attempt

What was meant to be a routine salary discussion turned into an abrupt exit for a student intern, who claims he was fired from a startup after asking for a raise during a performance review that was explicitly promised in his contract. His account, shared on Reddit, has struck a chord with users and sparked conversations about compensation, power dynamics and workplace culture at early-stage startups.

A three-month review that went off script

The student said he was hired as an AI Engineer intern at a six-person startup on a modest stipend for a six-month term. According to him, the internship agreement included a performance review and salary revision discussion after three months.

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Describing the company as a "tiny 6-person wrapper startup" whose founder had "vibecoded" the product using Lovable, he said the technical side of the business was handled by just three people — himself, a backend developer and the founder — while the remaining employees focused on sales.

Building the product, cutting costs

The intern claimed he was handed major responsibilities with little guidance and ended up building much of the company's Small Language Model (SLM) infrastructure.

 

 

 

According to the post, he deployed AI agents, improved latency, shifted systems away from expensive GPT APIs and reduced inference costs by 95 per cent. He also alleged that his work helped the startup secure more than seven clients.

When the scheduled review arrived, he decided to ask for a substantial raise.

"I knew it was a high anchor and it's my fault for expecting more, but my only intention was to start a negotiation and settle on a reasonable middle ground that fit their budget," he wrote. "I even explicitly said I was flexible and open to negotiate."

'Just test campaigns and test clients'

The student alleged that instead of negotiating, his manager reacted defensively and dismissed the value of his contributions.

According to the post, she argued that such a raise was unrealistic for a student and described his work as "just test campaigns and test clients" that were not being used in production.

The intern also claimed that his ability to work independently was presented as a problem rather than evidence of initiative.

A few days later, he received an email stating that his internship had been concluded due to a "mismatch in expectations."

"They literally fired me for a negotiation text, completely disregarding 4 months of heavy-lifting code when they could have simply said 'we can only do X amount' and I would have happily agreed," he wrote.

CEO calls him 'money-minded'

The dispute escalated further when, according to the student, the startup's CEO scheduled a meeting five days after his dismissal.

During the conversation, which the intern said lasted around 30 minutes, the CEO allegedly criticised his approach and framed the issue as a misunderstanding of startup culture.

The student claimed the CEO told him he was assuming his own impact, called him "money-minded," and said he had "broke the manager's heart" because his message came across as too authoritative.

According to the post, the CEO also suggested that if he wanted his position back, he would need to convince the manager to allow him to return.

'I don't want to beg'

The intern said he later sent a professional message apologising if his wording had caused any misunderstanding. However, he claimed the manager did not respond.

"I don't want to beg for a low-paying job under managers who treat standard business discussions like a personal betrayal," he wrote.

The student added that he was considering sending a final email requesting his formal experience certificate and moving on from the company.

Reddit weighs in

The post quickly went viral and  gained traction on Reddit

One user encouraged the student not to regret asking for more compensation, writing, "Don't be a servant of people. If you feel you deserve just ask for it. They will be making profits and you deserve a cut. These times will come n go but you gotta learn to understand that you are not a world saviour. you are a person who studies hard to earn money."

Another user urged the intern to move on, saying, "Dude chill, always set your standards high, don't let anyone downplay you. If they lost you it's their loss. Move forward with your knowledge. Try outside you still have time and you are young."

A third commenter described the incident as a blessing in disguise and linked it to a broader workplace mindset. "Dodged a bullet there. Typically Indian mentality," the user wrote. "I had several Indian managers in WITCH companies pull the same move when I asked things that were not in my 'aukat' according to them. They all feel like they are doing us a favour by employing us and think we are servants?"