The interview process was intense with questions. Understandable if you want to weed out bad talent and hire the best. Where the process turned weird is when I asked questions about the company, it turned into bragging on how they are an awesome company. This was not done in a way highlighting the good things about the culture, but focused on how bad people were let go. They are unique and people cannot hack it. Big red flags. When highlighting a senior leader left after a few months because they couldn’t hack it, it made me do my research. Found the person on LinkedIn and noticed they had long tenures before Toptal at good companies. After leaving they had a post that gave some insight on reasons not to join. This made me realize the negative reviews are right on toxic culture (you can be high performing and not toxic). I withdrew my candidacy after offer, and have had some contacts who experienced Toptal first hand validate it was the right call. It’s also odd they record interviews.