The Job Interview Tattoo Guy Everyone Got Mad at Finally Explains Himself
LemonLime cofounder Jordan Zietz hears your criticism loud and clear. That’s why he got his startup’s logo tattooed on his shoulder.
Jordan Zietz wants to be clear: He has never, and will never, force anyone to tattoo his startup’s logo on their body.
The 24-year-old briefly became the internet’s most hated person after LemonLime, his AI-for-small-business startup , hosted a party following Y Combinator's Startup School in late July. In a LinkedIn post, Zietz wrote that he brought an “actual tattoo artist” to the party, and “offered an instant interview to anyone who got a LemonLime tattoo.” Seven people, Zietz wrote, left with ink.
The backlash was quick. Zietz’s LinkedIn posts were flooded with angry comments calling him “disgusting” and “very unfair,” the perpetrator of a “textbook display of predatory corporate behavior, a gross abuse of power, and a profound violation of professional ethics.” A screenshot of his post went viral on X. One representative response read: “The job market cannot be this cooked that kids have to get permanent tattoos to get interviews.”
In an interview with WIRED on Tuesday, Zietz attempted to set the record straight.
He says that, despite what his original post suggested, no one permanently branded themselves with LemonLime’s corporate logo at the party. While there were pre-designed tattoos of lemons and limes, attendees could pick any design. ( At least one said she got a personal tattoo; she added that she was “not seeking a job.”) According to Zietz, he told everyone at the party that getting a tattoo—citrus-themed or otherwise—was not a job requirement. In fact, he says, any attendee who wanted an interview got one.
“A decent amount of people who got tattoos never wanted to even take us up on any offer to chat” about a job, Zietz says. “They just wanted to get a tattoo for free.”
