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that's why all the nonsense badmouthing was happening and why it was so sudden and allegedly not based in reality. they had to do that in order to justify to themselves that taking CTO's shares was valid.
humans are piles of shit, as a species. we really don't deserve to last, in my opinion.
I’ve been through YC twice now and have had this happen to me before in different ways and heard many stories firsthand. Some people just seem to drop whatever mask they had as soon as they see one ounce of success. There is even one case of a yc company where the cofounder went off and made a complete clone of the company a year later. Then an intern of that new company went off and made a third clone within a year.…
What are the signs?
I forget where I read it (venture deals, perhaps?) but it has always stuck with me: founder stock should vest! Nobody should get any equity whatsoever until and unless they've been working full time on the project for a year or more, founders included! That wouldn't have solved the problem here, however, where blowing up the whole company is the best outcome, as you don't want to be in business with greedy, dishonest…
Once the product is ready to launch, A bad technically founder could find a cheaper CEO. Once the first deals are in a bad CEO could find a cheaper technical founder.
The vesting strategy encourages thinking about founders as employees that can be replaced rather than as partners.
I’ve been through YC twice now and have had this happen to me before in different ways and heard many stories firsthand. Some people just seem to drop whatever mask they had as soon as they see one ounce of success. There is even one case of a yc company where the cofounder went off and made a complete clone of the company a year later. Then an intern of that new company went off and made a third clone within a year.…
> the signs of this type of person are pretty obvious in retrospect What are the signs?
In short, they're an asshole.
If you have a bad detector for these type of things (like I did) ask your friends. Every single one them knew before I did.
Sounds a lot like the "CEO" is a just sales rep for your company who did a great sales pitch to get you into YC, but who didn't even commit enough to the company to want to do it fulltime unless the person could get majority ownership. As others have mentioned, you might want to try to pull the business out of the company and get a better sales rep, with a more appropriate single digit or less equity. This kind of eg…
This isn't just some philosophical thing, I've worked at tons of places that have gone out doing ridiculous partnership attempts (e.g. an Italian telecom company) based on this misunderstanding.
If your cofounder fires you and you keep 45%, you're basically getting half the value for none of the work. Aside from the pride, this is actually very favorable. Probably the best way to handle it is to realize you own half of this thing, and offer to write a resignation letter to minimize the drama, swallow your pride, and hope all your eng team doesn't quit.
Potentially talking to YC/investors would be good because they might be able to talk the CEO out of such a huge mistake.
Posting on reddit, not so good. Eng employees will read it and potentially leave, turning your 45% into less value.
I forget where I read it (venture deals, perhaps?) but it has always stuck with me: founder stock should vest! Nobody should get any equity whatsoever until and unless they've been working full time on the project for a year or more, founders included! That wouldn't have solved the problem here, however, where blowing up the whole company is the best outcome, as you don't want to be in business with greedy, dishonest…
This is a pretty bad deal IMO. If I’m the technical cofounder the first months are basically me getting the (software) product to the point where it can be shown to customers. The next few months will see a sales founder get our first deal. Once the product is ready to launch, A bad technically founder could find a cheaper CEO. Once the first deals are in a bad CEO could find a cheaper technical founder. The vesting…
The vesting keeps everyone honest and in for the long-haul.
A friend was the co-founder & CTO of a company that was doing quite well...or the CEO was telling everyone that.
In an investor meeting, the CEO inflated numbers, and deflated the amount of salary he was taking, etc. Just basically lying.
After the interview, my friend contacted the investor and told him flat out that the CEO had lied and that he didn't want to be involved in that environment and he was therefore leaving the company.
The investors response "let me know when you get on to your next thing, I'll be very interested to talk". I'm not positive, but I think the investor did invest in the next start-up.
I've seen SO many founders lie during pitches where there was absolutely nothing on the line, just to make themselves feel bigger.
It's a major problem in the industry, but you can stand-out by taking the moral high road and being honest.
I suspect this company won't go very far if this is the way they treat people. It's a hugely valuable lesson for you.
On and up to the next great thing!
Some really emotional comments on here. Definitely an emotional situation but take a step back - If your cofounder fires you and you keep 45%, you're basically getting half the value for none of the work. Aside from the pride, this is actually very favorable. Probably the best way to handle it is to realize you own half of this thing, and offer to write a resignation letter to minimize the drama, swallow your pride,…
An anecdote, and something to think about next time... A friend was the co-founder & CTO of a company that was doing quite well...or the CEO was telling everyone that. In an investor meeting, the CEO inflated numbers, and deflated the amount of salary he was taking, etc. Just basically lying. After the interview, my friend contacted the investor and told him flat out that the CEO had lied and that he didn't want to b…