5 min readNew DelhiMar 13, 2026 11:57 AM IST
First published on: Mar 13, 2026 at 11:57 AM IST
In India’s fast-moving startup ecosystem, interns are often torn between choosing better pay and chasing meaningful learning experiences. A recent story about a young student has sparked exactly this debate online.
Ritesh, a third-year engineering student, decided to give up a Rs 25,000-a-month internship to join Bengaluru-based startup Matiks for a stipend of just Rs 5,000. His decision came into the spotlight after the company’s co-founder, Sudhanshu Bhatia, shared his journey on X and LinkedIn, triggering conversations about ambition, mentorship, and startup work culture.
In his post, Bhatia wrote, “Everyone talks about founders, nobody talks about the team. So here I am talking about the people who build Matiks. First up, Ritesh. He was a 3rd year student interning somewhere for Rs 25k, we offered Rs 5k, he still joined.”
According to Bhatia, Ritesh wasn’t motivated by money but by the chance to learn closely from experienced peers. “Said working closely with IIT grads would teach him more. Joined in September’24, the same month we had all quit our jobs… He came too, on that stipend. We were working 7 days a week then,” he added.
The co-founder also shared that Ritesh rarely took breaks and once declined a Sunday off, saying, “What would I even do?” Over time, Bhatia said, the intern became like a younger brother to him, even going so far as to claim he would “bet Rs 5L he’s better than most engineers with 5 years of experience in Bangalore.”
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The post quickly drew mixed reactions. While many users applauded Ritesh for valuing hands-on learning over immediate financial gain, others questioned whether such long hours and low pay reflected a problematic startup culture.
Responding to the criticism, Ritesh himself commented, “By the way currently my stipend is enough that my whole lobby enjoys a month every semester break, so no sympathy needed guyss.” He added that he was open to opportunities—provided they could match both the learning environment and the compensation.
As the debate intensified, one user praised the decision, writing that “most people optimize for comp early on, miss out on the real growth that comes from working with people who push you.” Another described early startup roles as mutual bets between founders and their first team members.
However, not everyone agreed. A critical comment read, “Ritesh took an 80% paycut to work 7 days a week… stop turning exploitation into a LinkedIn moment and start teaching him work life balance instead.”
Soon after, Ritesh posted a detailed clarification on his own X account. He explained that he had already completed multiple internships over two years and wasn’t urgently chasing money when he left his previous role. Instead, he wanted the freedom to experiment and build something meaningful. He also revealed that he had initially approached the startup himself, even offering to contribute as an open-source volunteer because he believed in what they were creating.
“For the first week, I worked unpaid simply because I was curious and wanted to learn. No one forced me,” he wrote, adding that working directly on real products and real-world problems had taught him more than classroom lectures ever could.
Bhatia later defended his original post, saying, “Ppl took a normal appreciation post out of context. Its about the first guy who believed in us….when matiks was just a side project. His stipend grew more times than the number of months he has been with us…do your math…am not even counting the esops here… Am sorry your jobs & bosses suck and dont appreciate your work with compensation or other acts, but dont assume the same happens everywhere. This post remains about the first guy who took a bet on us, and how lucky we are to have him.”
According to Bhatia, Ritesh wasn’t motivated by money but by the chance to learn closely from experienced peers 
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