An AI startup's tattoo-for-an-interview stunt set off a Silicon Valley backlash. Now the founder is apologizing.

The startup LemonLime offered anyone who received a tattoo an "instant interview." asier lopez/Getty Images

A Y Combinator-backed startup is catching heat for a stunt involving company-logo tattoos.

LemonLime offered those who got a logo tattoo at its Startup School after-party an "instant interview."

Cofounder Jordan Zietz has since apologized. He said it was a case of "poorly exercised judgment."

Tattoos, company logos, and deleted apologies — oh my.

A Y Combinator-backed startup founder is in hot water after saying his company would offer job interviews to anyone who got a tattoo of its logo at a party in San Francisco last weekend.

Jordan Zietz, the cofounder of the small AI automation startup LemonLime, wrote about the stunt in a since-deleted X post on Tuesday.

"7 people left with new ink," Zietz wrote on X. "That's how you get a job in 2026."

He wrote a longer post on LinkedIn, also since deleted, that featured a photo of a woman getting a tattoo on her right arm. That woman was Dimple Amitha Garuadapuri, who told Business Insider it was posted without her consent. She asked Zietz to take it down.

"By the time he had responded, multiple trending screenshots were already circulating on X with hundreds of thousands of views," Garuadapuri wrote.

Zietz has since posted and deleted multiple apologies. In his most recent one, he wrote that the company "messed up."

"I should have understood the pressure and power dynamic created by connecting tattoos to hiring," he wrote.

When Business Insider asked Zietz whether he offered interviews to the tattoo recipients, he responded, "Yes, we did." He later did not show up for an interview and did not respond to a list of questions.

Tattoo fallout

Zietz's startup is small. Founded this year, it was part of YC's Summer 2026 batch. It has five employees and no open listings on public job boards.

The backlash to Zietz's posts, however, was big. A screenshot of his posts circulated on the subreddit r/LinkedInLunatics, where commenters called the offer "Orwellian" and "dystopian." An X post lamenting that the "job market cannot be this cooked" got 13,000 likes.

It also drew responses from some big Silicon Valley names, like Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey , who said Zeitz shouldn't apologize.

"The critics will never be satisfied," he wrote.

The job market cannot be this cooked that kids have to get permanent tattoos to get interviews 😭 pic.twitter.com/gldwAhHlNS

— Sammy Tourani (@SammyTourani) July 29, 2026

Over the next 48 hours, Zietz posted at least two apologies online.

"We owe everyone an apology," Zietz wrote at the beginning of an X post that has also since been deleted, adding that the move was "reckless."

Zietz followed that post up with another one, which he didn't delete. He called the "company stunt" a case of "poorly exercised judgment."

"We've taken the posts down and have spoken to everyone who participated. We're also ready to cover associated removal costs with anyone facing any delayed regret," he said.

In that apology, Zietz wrote that no one at the party was asked to get a company logo tattoo.

Garuadapuri told Business Insider that the event's tattoo artist told her she "had to get one of the approved designs." (Garuadapuri said she "went out of my way to ask to get something personal.")

"All of the designs in front of the tattoo artist were of lemons and limes," Garuadapuri wrote. "While I was there, two people got Lemonlime tattoos and one other person got a personal tattoo."

I messed up.At our YC afterparty, we offered free tattoos and said we’d be happy to interview anyone who got one. What I thought would be a fun, memorable way to meet people was, in reality, reckless, and instead came across as tying a permanent tattoo to job opportunity, which…

— Jordan Zietz (@treejordan) July 30, 2026

LemonLime threw the July 25 party as an unofficial after-party to YC's Startup School . Billed on Luma as "YC x LemonLime — Calling All Crazy Builders," it sold out and drew 173 people.

The listing promised everyone would leave "with a surprise" and warned that the hosts "might not be allowed to host this ever again." It did not mention tattoos.

Photographs shared with Business Insider show the company's offer printed on posters taped to the venue walls. A second poster offered another incentive: The people behind the three most-liked LinkedIn posts about LemonLime by 10 p.m. could join the team on a skydiving trip.

As startups compete in an increasingly crowded AI market, many are turning to social media stunts . While some garner interest, others receive blowback. The New York subway ads made by Friend, an AI wearables company, are a classic example.

"There's no clever explanation here," Zietz wrote in his apology. "I got carried away, and I was wrong."

Read the original article on Business Insider

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