I had an intake call with this company at the crack of dawn in the morning since they are in the EU (I’m in the Bay Area). Person went over the process, I had all the experience (10+ years). The when they asked about compensation and job hopping it got sour. Job hopping feedback was interesting given this is a startup like every other AI startup. Then when it was time to ask about my compensation, I was upfront about my base. They were offering <150k lower than what I’m making now. I said I could be flexible if it meant fully remote and no 5 days a week in office. Person told me the next steps, two weeks later I get a rejection about my experience not being inline with what they want. What a load of crap. They just don’t want to pay and they want someone with less experience. If that’s the case just be upfront about the job before you take peoples valuable time for a tiny cluster. Also if you want Bay Area professionals then pay Bay Area prices like the rest of the startups. This isn’t Europe. It’s the US.