They are not good guys. They might be good guys in their personal life, but hiring someone from outside the country, letting them cut ties, and then laying them off immediately is not something a "good guy" does.
Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
11–20 of 297 posts
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#12While everyone understands there is an added level of uncertainty when taking a start up position, your situation sounds more unusual than most considering that it does little more than screws up your career and short term family plans. You can't really say you worked at this company, you've already gone through what sounds like a lengthy job search and turned down all positions that came up besides this one, made plans with your family to move to the States, and then a week after getting 'hired' you had to make other plans.
I'm not sure why you say you like the founders when they treat people like this. This is a serious blow to your life that they are responsible for.
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#13Job offers don't disappear. Just go back to the other ones and see what is still open.
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#14I officially joined as the COO. So did you have an official contract, equity deal, etc? I doubt there's much you can do about these decision not to take you on after all, you probably need to grieve for the job and move on, but you should certainly hold them to their legal obligations, especially if they had to give you notice (which they should be paying you for).
Even with an official contract, unless he was explicitly promised certain things, he can still be let go.
American companies generally don't have any notice requirements. The fact that he's overseas may create a liability for the company in that country, but they probably don't care about that.
(edit: They must absolutely pay him for hours worked.)
Assuming his options had vesting (which 'tptacek will remind us to always have, so the YC company probably knows about that advice), he doesn't have any equity.
I've seen this problem from a few sides, so OP has my sympathy, for whatever it's worth. I've seen people laid off a week after joining when the adults suddenly realized they were bleeding money. I very very recently saw someone approved for a job and accept it, told to wait a few days while internal funding moved around, and then suddenly the entire project was cancelled.
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#15how fucked can you be really after only 2 weeks? You didn't move yet, you haven't burned any bridges in your network, you have skills that are in demand, you have not uprooted your life for them.
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#16https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8120070
There's 500+ other jobs available, you can just as readily find another one.
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#17Sorry to hear that!
What the consensus on the best way for someone to avoid this? Immediate vesting if let go? Some predefined severance agreement? 6 mo/12 mo contract? I understand it's a big decision for a startup to hire employee #1, but how can I protect myself in such a future case?
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#18[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#19> I joined as employee #1 of a YC startup
Which one is it?
Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason
#20(1) Be very happy that this happened before you actually uprooted your life and moved to a new country, only to find yourself jobless there! (2) Reach out again to the managers behind some of your past job offers. We have hired people who previously passed on us then had the other gig fall through or run out of funding. Many of those old offers will reappear and you'll be fine.
I'll repeat (2). Assuming you politely declined, those bridges are still around. People get things yanked out from underneath them through no fault of their own. If they went through the hiring process enough to decide that you are a good candidate, the fact that they were your second choice shouldn't upset them.