Sorry to nitpick but for this to be "the new norm", it would require a lot of companies doing this. It's a single datapoint and I've not seen other companies doing that.
Well this was actually the point of my question. I have been an independent consultant for a couple years now so I don't really have my finger on the pulse of current startup trends. My question is indeed if a lot of new startups are doing this in which case perhaps it's worth considering or if this is a very abnormal requirement in which it's perhaps a red flag.