Ask HN: Startup stopped paying my salary

My first job out of college was for an "internet media" startup right across the street from school. Long story short, after a few years they started running out of cash. Salary started coming a few days late, then weeks, then a month. At the point when they owed me 2 months of salary, I quit and started looking for a new job full-time (which I found after a couple months, thank God).

Whenever I talk to the founder, he typically says they have "potential investors" and the money should be coming in a few months. I'm not as stupid as I was, and I'm sure that no money is coming in. Who wants to invest in a startup that hasn't been profitable for 5+ years and has back salary obligations to multiple employees?

I can survive without the money, but it's still a pretty good chunk for me so it's worth it to me to put in effort to retrieve it. Problem is, I don't really know how to approach it. I see my options as being: 1. Go to the law; 2. Approach them aggressively; 3. Forget about it.

I've been thinking about filing a wage claim with the state (California), but I would rather settle directly with the company rather than go through the state. I can't really forget about it because it's a decent chunk of change.

There is a little twist, and that is that my experience with the founders and officers was very good up until the point they stopped paying me. They took us out to nice lunches and bought us the first iPhones on launch day (even bought me a new one when I dropped mine). They sent me all-expenses paid to WWDC, Google I/O, OSCON, and SIGGRAPH. I essentially got my career started at that company. It was my first job as a developer, and when my boss left I got promoted to "CTO" and got to hire my own small team. This is one of the main reasons I haven't really "gone after them". I don't really want to screw them over, I just want my money.

Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

Go for 2, then 1. Have a polite, but firm discussion with the CEO. Tell him that you can't wait anymore for what it's rightfully yours. Give them 30 days to get your money or you'll be forced to go through the state. If they don't pay up, file a claim (you gave them ample time and a fair warning). And remember, they are the assholes, not you for wanting your money.

I actually did start looking for a job right a little bit before the salary starting coming late. From the time I sent my first official "hey guys I'm looking for a job" email until the time I signed the contract for my next job was about 6 months. The operations of the company started smelling weird to me the longer I was there, plus I felt like I needed to be in a different type of position, so did start looking before things started falling apart.

While I was still getting paid, I didn't want to quit until I had secured a new job. When they were 1 month late with pay, that pretty much drew the line for me so I gave them 1 month notice at that point.

And yes, now I'm regularly updating my resume and keeping my eyes and ears open for other opportunities.

Thanks for your input tptacek. When I spoke with one of the VP's he also said that there wasn't much I could do to go after the money. But I thought he might be trying to prevent me from doing anything against the company.

What you described about kicking off the bankruptcy process is pretty much how I pictured it. They have implicitly made me an interest-free lender.

One of the hard lessons of life here for me is that I am really hesitant to trust any people in business now. I now understand why unions exist.

Thanks, that confirms what's been stewing in my mind.