Startup Raises $10M Using Pitch Deck Created by Rejected Applicant
An Indonesian startup raised $10M using a pitch deck submitted by a job applicant they didn’t hire. Genius or exploitation?
JAKARTA —Indonesian tech startup CicilNow has successfully closed a $10 million funding round, thanks entirely to a pitch deck submitted by a candidate they ultimately did not hire.
The deck, created as part of a take-home “strategic thinking exercise,” was submitted by 38-year-old marketing veteran Daniel T., who was vying for the Head of Growth role. The task was simple: build a detailed go-to-market (GTM) strategy and investor pitch for a fictional market expansion.
“We were blown away,” said CicilNow’s Head of People & Culture, Siska Mulyani. “We immediately forwarded the deck to our CEO, and he sent it to our investor group before even finishing Daniel’s resume. Everyone loved it, especially the part on CAC reduction. It was very... investable.”
Daniel was promptly informed he “wasn’t the right cultural fit.” Three weeks later, CicilNow appeared on TechCrunch, proudly announcing their Series A.
When asked about the decision not to hire the candidate behind the deck, CEO Fadil Rahman offered a thoughtful explanation: “Look, Daniel clearly knows what he’s doing. But so do our current team members. Besides, hiring him would have meant paying him. The deck was already done. Our KPIs are aggressive right now.”
The company’s board praised Rahman’s “resourceful use of candidate IP.” According to internal sources, CicilNow is now considering a quarterly “interview funnel innovation sprint” in which selected applicants contribute business-critical assets in exchange for exposure and a swift rejection email.
“Honestly,” said Fadil, “this just proves our recruitment strategy is working. Why hire one Head of Growth when you can collect twenty growth strategies for free?”
Reached for comment, Daniel T. said he was “happy to have contributed” to the company’s success, although he did note he was never asked to sign an NDA. “At first I thought the silence after the final round was just bad hiring etiquette. Turns out they were just busy raising millions off my deck.”
In response to the viral LinkedIn post he published titled ‘How I Raised $10M for a Company That Ghosted Me’, Daniel received hundreds of supportive comments from other job seekers who, too, had unknowingly doubled as unpaid consultants.
Meanwhile, CicilNow’s HR team has reportedly received over 600 new applications after their announcement, many of them eager to be part of what the company is now calling its “Candidate-Led Innovation Pipeline.”
No word yet on whether any of those applicants will be hired.
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