Tech Bro Denied Dev's Hard-Earned Bonus For Bug That Overcharged A Little Old Lady
The Register, Monday, August 4th, 2025
Startups aren't good at testing software, or respecting contracts
This week, meet a reader who asked to be Regomized as "IVR Ivan" because his story harks back to his time as one of three employees at a startup in the then-nascent interactive voice response (IVR) industry.
Ivan was the only programmer at the startup, which created a service that billed people by-the-minute for telephone-based chats with professionals such as doctors, lawyers, or accountants.
The startup decided to make calls to its services free, rather than use billed numbers that had a reputation for overcharging and/or mostly being used by services that specialized in discussion of - ahem! - intimate personal services.