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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.

#171

Post by cstejerean »

flipbrad wrote: post #155
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.

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.

if I read it correctly she REFUSED to take a paycut.

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

#172

Post by noonespecial »

ovi256 wrote: post #149
mixmax wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good to see you back in the game ovi256 ;-)

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

ovi256++ just for being a good sport.

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

#173

Post by patrickg-zill »

I would avoid India as the people I know who have tried it, have had serious quality problems.

I would investigate the offers of people on this forum (including me: patrick at zill dot net) to assist in some way.

I would start learning Django but, would not make it a full time effort as there are other things to work on, no doubt.

I would immediately contact a lawyer and work on reducing or eliminating the 35% stake. As far as I am concerned, reducing it to 0% is wholly acceptable.

At the very least have the lawyer send her a letter stating that the work she was to perform and which she was paid to do, was not completed and was not up to acceptable standards. This can form the basis of denying the equity stake later.

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

#175

Post by ericb »

drinko wrote: post #167
ericb wrote: post #43

What is the feedback you need to respond to? How much different is what the app needs to be from what you have. Examples will help us understand better.

the non intuitive nature of some of the UI features. Instructional copy is written, but not implemented. Lack of help - again written, but not implemented. Lack of privacy settings. Inability to search.

Hmm... None of these, with the possible exception of no privacy (as in, the defaults provide no privacy), sound like they would stop you from putting it out there to see how it does and then improving as you go (outsourced, etc).

I have fallen into the trap of "more development" will solve this before. If you're selling a fire hose to someone on fire, they won't be too concerned with its color. Are you not releasing because there is no fire? Is that possibly why the developer did not see dollar signs and left? I ask you this not to be glib, but because I was on the other side of a similar, but much more amicable situation.

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

#176

Post by iamelgringo »

OK, so here's a problem. Even if you do get someone from this site to help you, Ms. Django owns 35% of your company regardless. Best case scenario, someone helps you, the product takes off, you have a big exit... you still have to pay her 35%. That's a big problem. The only way that you're going to get rid of her is to close the company and start over.

And, she's wasted 14 months of your time with precious little to show for it. As far as I'm concerned if you work on a Django project for 14 months and have little to show for it, your developer is incompetent.

Start over. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. Pick up a couple of books and start learning how to code yourself. That way, you'll know if your next co-founder is producing crap or not. And, you just may be able to code something up yourself.

Pick up a prn job just to cover the bills. I'm a nurse, I moved to Silicon Valley, and you can get a prn job out here that pays $75 an hour pretty easy. We have people the commute from Dallas and Oregon to work here. Fly in, work 6 days straight, make 5K and then fly back. Consider it. You'll also make contacts in Silicon Valley which is very valuable.

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

#177

Post by wehriam »

drinko wrote: post #159
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.

Was there was vesting of some type?

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

#179

Post by JayNeely »

mixmax wrote: post #165

Drinko - you should really add an e-mail adress to your profile. There's a pretty godd chance you'll get a mail from someone here that might be interested in picking it up.

To clarify, the e-mail address you put in the field specifically for it isn't visible to anyone. You should type it in the "About" section.

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

#180

Post by edw519 »

ovi256 wrote: post #149
mixmax wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good to see you back in the game ovi256 ;-)

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

Of course we care!

(The beers make us care even more.)

Hope someday we get that chance.

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