Very true - I don't think I was told anything factually false, and that's hugely to the founders' credit. It's the distinction between caveat emptor and fraud, I suppose, and since some friends had gotten suckered by similar offers I knew what to beware.
Perhaps this story fits better under the other thread here of legitimate arrangements with scam-like effects on their partners. The pitch I got reminded me more of a doomed restaurant than an MLM: the founders seemed sincere about the merits of their idea at least (they demanded an [now-expired] NDA, even!), and I really don't know if their optimism about the company's prospects and the job's quality was faked. They knew something was wrong well enough to bury the problems, but an outright work-for-free scam would probably have been pitched more smoothly, maybe as a "take-home interview assignment". As is, they might well have followed through on the promises if they had somehow gotten their millions. They didn't exactly have my best interests at heart, but like many people overselling failing projects, I think they were aiming at a wildly unlikely success rather than pushing a strictly negative deal.
Perhaps this story fits better under the other thread here of legitimate arrangements with scam-like effects on their partners. The pitch I got reminded me more of a doomed restaurant than an MLM: the founders seemed sincere about the merits of their idea at least (they demanded an [now-expired] NDA, even!), and I really don't know if their optimism about the company's prospects and the job's quality was faked. They knew something was wrong well enough to bury the problems, but an outright work-for-free scam would probably have been pitched more smoothly, maybe as a "take-home interview assignment". As is, they might well have followed through on the promises if they had somehow gotten their millions. They didn't exactly have my best interests at heart, but like many people overselling failing projects, I think they were aiming at a wildly unlikely success rather than pushing a strictly negative deal.