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Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

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Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#151

Post by axod »

tptacek wrote: post #69
axod wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't sound particularly like she believed in the idea. I think in retrospect it would have been better to offer 50% and the same salary as you. Going forward though, I'd say definitely learn to hack. Also find people who might help not because of a salary, but because they think the idea is cool and want to be part of it.

Why is "learning to hack" the answer here? Doesn't that leave this person with a startup with no team?

You can be a sole founder you know. Works quite well :)

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#152

Post by [deleted] »

lux wrote: post #146

Hopefully you have something in writing that protects your IP rights as well, or she may be able to run off with the code. Conversely, if you've signed away ownership though, you may need to buy her shares out to retain 100% ownership. Short of learning to code, which would be a good idea either way, you could try something like elance.com to find a qualified developer to get it to beta. That could even produce a par…

[deleted]

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#153

Post by ovi256 »

mixmax wrote: post #150
ovi256 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good to see people care. I'll get you all beers if we ever get together.

We'll remember that ;-) where do you live?

Right now, Lyon, France until June. I'll graduate then, and afterwards we'll see.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#154

Post by redorb »

drinko wrote: post #34
tptacek wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not criticizing you for taking a salary. I take a nice one. I'm just saying, you're not working on "2 people in a garage" terms.

Well, my monthly outgoing are $2000 a month, so it kinda feels garagelike to me.

$3000 income - $2000 outgoing is more College like than garagelike, thats $250 free money a week (lots of ramen noodles)

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#155

Post by flipbrad »

axod wrote: post #63
drinko wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pg, The idea was that always that she would be a full co-founder. We agreed on a low equity split initially because of the asymmetric risk we were taking. The idea was always to increase her stake 6 months into the project, but not in the way it happened. I met her through a friend, and 3 months ago would have been proud to call her my cofounder. I am going to learn to hack regardless, I am just trying to figure out…

It doesn't sound particularly like she believed in the idea. I think in retrospect it would have been better to offer 50% and the same salary as you. Going forward though, I'd say definitely learn to hack. Also find people who might help not because of a salary, but because they think the idea is cool and want to be part of it.

note that she took a pay cut because she wanted a greater stake in the company. does that fit with her not believing in it?

it does sound like she didn't have the experience or the maturity to whittle down to an achievable project, however. learn to code, maybe that plus this experience will make you a much stronger manager and designer next time around.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#156

Post by alex_c »

tptacek wrote: post #87
alex_c wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter what the nurse was doing OR how much the developer was getting paid. The developer agreed to the terms upfront (and I'm hoping there was some kind of contract involved). Renegotiating or asking for a raise is one thing, but this sounds a bit too much like blackmail to me. Of course, there are two sides to every story.

Blackmail?! She didn't take the company hostage. She quit it. You can always quit. I can always fire you. If you make a mistake when you negotiate a position, you are not ethically required to "ride it out" to some foreordained date.

I doubt anyone would consider it blackmail in the legal sense. But I'm putting myself in the owner's place: upfront contract, month 4 of 6, more equity promised upon receiving a deliverable. Losing the developer is a major setback for my startup, and the developer threatens me with creating this setback unless I give a large amount of equity. I would certainly feel that the developer is trying to take advantage of me at that point.

Like I said, it's one thing to negotiate better compensation, or to walk away for a better offer, etc. It's another to say "I can screw you over and I will use that to get more from you".

And like I also said, there are two sides to every story. This is seen exclusively from the owner's side.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#157

Post by joanou »

First dilute here ownership to next to nothing. Second: I haven't had much success in India. The turnover was too high and I found myself managing via spreadsheets and Skype way too much. Third: Keep your costs minimal and look for more funding. My $0.02

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#158

Post by bosshog »

redorb wrote: post #154
drinko wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, my monthly outgoing are $2000 a month, so it kinda feels garagelike to me.

$3000 income - $2000 outgoing is more College like than garagelike, thats $250 free money a week (lots of ramen noodles)

$2400 (after taxes, see OP) - $2000 is more like $100 a week.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#159

Post by drinko »

SwellJoe wrote: post #138

Not a lot of people are talking about the very serious problem of your developer now owning 35% stake in your business. Even if you manage to pull all of this stuff together by yourself, you're still screwed. You cannot raise more money as long as there's a "ghost" shareholder...if you do it without telling the investors about it you're liable to get sued, and if you tell them about it, they'll do the math and figure…

29% can be reclaimed in a straightforward manner.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#160

Post by lanej0 »

It might sound a little slimy (but no worse than what this developer has pulled on you), but you've given her a 35% stake in THE COMPANY, not the product, no? You could always shut down the company, sell off the assets (your prototype) to another company that you start for a dollar and start fresh with 100% equity.

I assume that the 35% equity doesn't actually give her decision-making power? There's probably a couple of loopholes you can exploit here.

Once you've got your equity back, follow some of the advice here. Get yourself a real developer, try to get a little more money and release a version 1. Barring that, cut your features down, and rethink what you really need in order to get you to the next stage. Something small and simple may be all that is really essential.

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