The interview process started out quite well. They did make me do interviews on weekends but I understood the challenges of an early stage startup and went with it. I spoke to the recruiter, CEO, CTO and then did a group interview which had a mock customer phone call with the CEO, CTO and the business development head. The interviews went well and they were about to extend an offer when things suddenly changed for them and they decided to not hire for that position any more. They reached out a month later because they were hiring again. I agreed to a phone call to let them explain where they were coming from and how the situation is better now. The call was with the CEO. I was asked for my salary expectations during the interview with the CTO (my 2nd interview round). Since they moved me along the process, I was under the impression that they can pay a market competitive salary. However, when the CEO reached out, I was told that they cannot pay the industry median salary that I was expecting. Swarm glorifies what they do to an extent where they think you’re lucky to even be part of their mission. So 60 hour work weeks, lower than median compensation are all glorified because of the “mission”. Makes you want to take a step back and really ask if it’s even worth it to be in a place where there’s no respect for an employee. Their PR is great so whatever you read about them is very good. Even I was really excited to work at Swarm based on all the interviews. I’m lucky that they weren’t able to hire at the time and they came back to me and I had the conversation that I did with the CEO to really see all the red flags with Swarm. It’s also a great reminder to not take words from leadership at face value. Please do your due diligence and speak to employees too. Read reviews and try to read between the lines.