I stayed silent, gave the benefit of the doubt, and worked with integrity. But Sridhar Arunagiri—the man behind 16VC—is exactly who people warned me about. And now, I’ve lived the same nightmare that many before me went through.
I gave my everything to his so-called “startup.” Sleepless nights, full-time commitment, blind trust. People messaged me warning me about his past scams. That he had looted over ₹2 LAKHS EACH from 20+ students in Hyderabad, promising them fake jobs and never delivering. That he had taken ₹52K from 25+ BITS Hyderabad students for a phony “cohort” and then vanished. He even deleted his LinkedIn when the heat turned up.
But I still gave him a chance—thinking maybe he wanted to start clean.
And then he did the same to me.
He delayed my salary for months, even though we mutually agreed I didn’t need to serve a 30-day notice, and that my final dues would be credited between March 18 and April 8. Suddenly, when it was time to pay, he used one frustrated message I sent—“Stop this nonsense and credit my salary with experience letter”—as an excuse to deny everything.
Mind you, this is the same man who behaved unprofessionally every single day—staring at women in WeWork, passing inappropriate comments, and encouraging employees to “go approach them” during office hours. And now he wants to play the victim card because I was angry after months of manipulation?
When I told him I’d take legal action, he casually said, “I’ll give you my lawyer’s contact.” I’m still waiting.
This isn’t just about the money anymore. It’s about respect, dignity, and the hours of work I’ll never get back.
I’m tagging WeWork too—because how is someone with this kind of scam history still allowed to operate under your roof?
I know this post may not go viral. I know Sridhar has conned many before and probably will again. But I hope it warns at least one person. Especially those fresh out of college, excited to prove themselves—don’t let someone like this feed off your ambition.
To all those candidates I interviewed internationally for his companies (scam), I apologise from my behalf and that I have nothing to do with this person or his unregistered companies. He still have my candidate’ details and I am worried that he might also use my name post employment to reach to out the candidates.
Also sharing his LinkedIn profile link : https://lnkd.in/gWVMQ6p9
We work hard. We deserve better.
16VC PeakVC H1RE RI5E WeWork India
16VC PeakVC H1RE wework fraud scam
This post was originally shared by on Linkedin.