United States is bustling with startups and what can make a difference? Speed and efficiency off course. Dhruv Bindra, co-founder of the fashion-tech startup Styl to “Personalized Women’s Fashion”, exemplifies this principle with his rapid hiring process, and internet is going into a spiral over it.
Styl, a mobile app that aims to revolutionize online fashion shopping with a Tinder-like interface, was co-founded by Bindra and his then-sophomores Duke University classmate Rayan Malik in 2022. The app allows users to swipe right to like and left to dislike clothing items from multiple brands, curating personalized recommendations based on user preferences. The startup has seen significant traction, boasting over 500 active monthly users and 1.5 million social media impressions since its launch.
Bindra’s lightning-fast hiring process at 2 a.m. came into the spotlight with he posted a tweet about the same. He recounted a hiring story of an eager applicant who reached out late at night: “At 10pm I got an email and LinkedIn DM from an impressive student asking for an internship. At 12am I sent him a Zoom link. He hopped on, exchanged stories, and I told him about a feature I wanted to build out. At 2:46am he sent me completed designs. At 2:47am he was hired.”
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Styl founder’s hiring story sparks hilarious comments
And as usual internet can’t keep themselves come and churning hilarious comments in the Styl founder’s box. Like one commented, “3 AM, the cops come and he’s escaped in one of their uniforms. He sends a Zoom link but he isn’t there. He’s on Meet. 30 min later, I text him on TG. He tells me to meet him by the Trocadero in Paris. I’ve been waiting. I’ve never hired another. He doesn’t show up. He’s gone to Berlin. That’s where he stashed the designs,” while another said, “2:50am he disappeared with the private keys…”
“2:48am you woke up and said that was a nice dream let me tweet about it,” one witty user quipped.
However, many seemed unhappy with Bindra’s post due to this ridiculous work hours. As one user wrote, “This is sad. Don’t promote this type of work culture.”
Another piped in saying, “Seen this garbage enuf times on LinkedIn, now it’s making its way here.”
“Don’t get impressed by this toxic work culture. Maintain your work life balance! 🙄,” one commented.
The Duke mates, Bindra and Malik, got their startup idea by observing their classmates’ struggles with online shopping, envisioned Styl as a solution to the fragmented fashion e-commerce experience. “What we didn’t realize at that time is … we ended up chancing upon the solution to the biggest problem with fashion recommendations,” Bindra told The Chronicle.
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Their focus on user-centric design and data-driven recommendations sets them apart in the competitive landscape.
As Styl continues to grow, the team remains committed to expanding thoughtfully. “We want to grow longitudinally before horizontally,”: Bindra explained. “So we’re really focused on keeping our user base as small as it needs to be. We’re happy to grow, but not at the expense of distracting ourselves away from time that is best spent talking to users and building out new features.”