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Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

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Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#221

Post by nobodysfool2 »

guybrushT wrote: post #199
poof131 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They withdrew an offer of employment. They didn't withdraw an offer, they terminated someone who had accepted and was actively working for the company. They didn't do anything wrong. Yes, they did. Is it okay to let the OP go quickly because they made a mistake: no resources to deal with visa issues, wrong domain expertise, etc? Yes. Is it okay to do this without compensation, especially after rescinding other offers…

he worked his professional network and went out on a limb for this startup. Some in my network (former consulting clients and business friends) ended up buying the service. So the company benefited in a tangible way (real $'s). I worked as if this was "my company". So yeah, I do feel screwed for the reasons you say and more...

So they got rid of you because you had an equity stake? And by giving up your equity they could keep the money for themselves... yea, you got screwed.

Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#222

Post by freejack »

What kind of help or advice are you looking for specifically? Your post doesn't make it clear what you'd like help with. i.e. finding a new job, negotiating a severance package, revenge, moving on, how to best pick up the pieces with your professional network, etc. I'd like to help, but I'd be guessing if I offered any specific guidance.

Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#223

Post by sbalea »

pmiller2 wrote: post #212
Alupis wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a very nice company. They were in no way obligated to do any of that. You chose to break your lease on a gamble that things would work out for you... obviously they didn't... that's just how it is.

I'm not a lawyer, but having quit a job, broken a lease, and literally packed up to move the next day, I think promissory estoppel might apply. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promissory_estoppel#Promissory_...

Yes, which is why they paid him 6 weeks. I am sure in the papers there there's a "no lawsuit" clause…

Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#226

Post by nostrademons »

davemel37 wrote: post #185
sheetjs wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Please do us all a favor and let us know who they are beyond "a YC startup" so that none of us find ourselves in your shoes. Two other reasons for considering revealing the name: 1) a casual bystander might see this and conclude that all YC companies behave in this way, which hurts the other companies. 2) PG and other partners at YC read HN, and there's a good chance that action can be taken if they know who is inv…

Even if you take these into consideration, a more appropriate reaction would be to say, "if you are currently in talks with a YC company for employment, or were hired in the last few weeks, drop me a line with the name of the company and I'll reply privately to you with a yes or no." Same goes for PG or YC Partners, just say, "if you drop me a line saying you want to deal with this, contact me and we can discuss it a…

This is often a good idea regardless. Several years ago, I was in talks with a YC startup to join as a technical cofounder early in the program. I reached out to about 4 other YC founders or early employees who had gone through similar situations - not being a member of the founding team, but joining as a cofounder or employee #1 while the startup was still going through YC. Eventually decided to pass, which turned out to be a good idea in hindsight since the startup imploded in a founder breakup soon after the program ended.

The people I reached out to didn't even know or speak directly about the founders or startup itself. But because they had been in similar situations before, they knew what to look for that might become issues in the future, and then I could cross-reference that with my own personal experience to make a judgment.

Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#227

Post by justguessingbut »

jowiar wrote: post #26

> I like the founders - they are good guys. No. They're not. You don't get to screw around with other people's lives and continue to possess the title of "good guy". If they were good guys, you would be receiving tens of thousands of dollars for your difficulties, and such would have enough of a runway on that such that you wouldn't need to ask us for advice. Please do us all a favor and let us know who they are beyo…

I think the YC startup is almost certainly SketchDeck.

It's not too difficult to find the OP's real life identity based on his past work. From that, the information on http://angel.co/ pretty much gives it away.

Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#228

Post by notahacker »

crpatino wrote: post #94
waterfowl wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not going to get the same salary? Really? has the amount of value he can provide decreased after his failed YC backed COO stint or is it just some petty 'loyalty' thing? That would be insulting, especially because the recruiter tends to get paid more if you do(so why would they do that?). I don't doubt that there are people who would do that, but idk how they can they get away with it in such a hot market for…

Not his objective value (if there is such thing), but his sense of self worth has. Recruiters are trained and drilled into exploit this kind of weaknesses.

Your sense of self-worth (or solvency) has to be pretty shattered to accept that you're worth less to a company than they offered you mere weeks ago.

If recruiters are trained to insult potential employees by making lower offers than they earlier rejected, they deserve all the unfilled vacancies they're going to get.

Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#229

Post by nostrademons »

guybrushT wrote: post #151
Zarkonnen wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very depressing attitude. A functioning market relies on information flow, and if this information flow is killed because people are scared, the market stops functioning.

You are right. The key is to find a structural solution to this, since this is a common occurrence (i.e. joining startups early stage) - and spread information about the "best practice" way of avoiding situations like the one I went through.

There probably is a business in this, but it looks like TheFunded and GlassDoor are already taking it on.

Anyway, there is a solution to this - it's to develop a personal set of red flags and heuristics that you use to weed out bad founders when you talk to them. I have one, and it disqualifies probably 95% of startups that I talk to. Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's any way to build this reliably short of bitter experience. The problem with a general "post your grievances" board is that you don't get both sides of the story. I know at least one person who has posted their grievances publicly on HN where I personally witnessed what actually went down, and their account is nowhere close to what I witnessed.

Re: Ask HN: I was hired and unhired in 2 weeks, for no reason

#230

Post by poof131 »

Scuttles wrote: post #213
davemel37 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you take these into consideration, a more appropriate reaction would be to say, "if you are currently in talks with a YC company for employment, or were hired in the last few weeks, drop me a line with the name of the company and I'll reply privately to you with a yes or no." Same goes for PG or YC Partners, just say, "if you drop me a line saying you want to deal with this, contact me and we can discuss it a…

This is absurd guys. We have one guy's story, from his perspective. For all we know, the OP sat around and did nothing productive. The founders had a reason to terminate him - be it what others would call a "good reason" or otherwise. Perhaps there were issues the OP is completely unaware of? What will happen? Will YC yank funding over this? I hope not -- that would set a dangerous precedent and make me, for one, tha…

"For all we know, the OP sat around and did nothing productive."

Working his network to help get a startup's first few customers at large, brand name companies? I'd hardly call that unproductive. In fact, if they iterate product dev on one of these customers, find that perfect product market fit, and scale; well, I'd say he played a roll in their success.

"Perhaps there were issues the OP is completely unaware of?"

The issue is the manner in which the OP was terminated. The company could be totally justified letting him go, just not in the manner in which they did it.

"you can be terminated for any reason... Does that make it "right"? Well, that's a perspective thing."

One, you can't be terminated for any reason.

Two, we are seeing the perspective of public opinion and unfortunately it is reflecting negatively on YC since people don't have a more specific target. Everyone has a 'right' to choose who they work for.

Three, getting terminated is a little more than just perspective. It is an event which can have significant repercussions for a person: mortgage payments, kid's school costs, etc.

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