
Ask HN: Most of team quit my startup. What to do? - jfr6fgjk
I&#x27;m the first employee at a startup that has been experiencing management issues. The two founders are often fighting each other for power. Both are micromanaging. We discuss new features, eventually prioritize, and create a sprint. Then, every couple of sprints, a new emergency happens and we switch it up to accommodate. This and general management issues have been stressing out employees, which we&#x27;ve all made clear.<p>After a lot of conflicts, the entire backend team eventually left, except myself. (A few frontend devs remain.) I&#x27;m experiencing the same issues, still. We&#x27;re gearing up for a series A with maybe half a year of runway, so I feel like I should stay and help, but I often feel like I should also quit. I guess I&#x27;m looking for advice on how to either try to fix the situation, or options to leave with dignity.
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ones_and_zeros
I'll tell you what you came here to hear, get out.

Everybody says they are "gearing up for a series A" and many many business
never get a series A, never mind one that sounds like it is in such a mess.

Unless you have some insider knowledge (hockey stick growth, profit, etc) that
the series A is guaranteed, it's not coming and will be used to bait you
along.

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xiaoma
Spend 20 minutes each night journaling your experiences for as long as you
stay. This is an incredible opportunity to learn about high-stakes
interpersonal conflict from a front row seat.

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NumberCruncher
Maybe your founders deserve a second chance? If I were you I would tell them
that I stay but:

\- I want to have from now on x% more salary, kind of a PITA bonus because I
have to deal with amateurs

\- maybe (more) equity, because if I have to tell a founder how he has to do
his own job I am not only an employee any more

\- to claim the right (maybe include it also in your contract) to refuse
breaking sprints

And of course I would start for looking for a new job, just in case.

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Silhouette
Unfortunately, it sounds like the current company culture is toxic and most
likely beyond hope of redemption. Unless you have

(a) enough influence with the company leadership to make a real difference to
the culture in the immediate future

AND

(b) the company has good prospects if only the management issues could be
resolved

AND

(c) the risk of staying is balanced by a huge potential upside for you
personally (such as already having a potentially life-changing level of equity
AND a bulletproof contract)

then I would suggest you make plans to leave as well. Loyalty is a fine
character trait, but so is pragmatism. There's no need to burn bridges or
screw anyone, just find a better option, give a reasonable amount of notice,
and do what you reasonably can to hand over to whoever is taking over your
responsibilities for as long as you're still there.

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preetnation
Don't stay for obligation so ask yourself if you honestly still believe - it
sounds like you don't.

If you don't still believe, pull off the band aid and tell the founders you
plan to leave. However, tell them you'll stay with them through the new year
to 1) buy you time and 2) not burn bridges with them.

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jrnichols
Get your own affairs in order. Pay down some debt if you have any. Avoid large
purchases. Make sure that you're going to be ok if the wheels come off and
things come to a skidding halt.

Overall, are you ok with the job? Do you enjoy what you're doing? Are you
learning new things? It's likely that you can't fix the situation with the
higher ups, but you can certainly do what you can to make sure that you aren't
going to be left stranded.

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mrmondo
Contact each one and ask them WHY they left and that honesty will not result
in a poor reference.

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JSeymourATL
> The two founders are often fighting each other for power. Both are
> micromanaging.

Ultimately, leaving is easy. A bigger challenge is learning how to handle
Micro-managing superiors. You'll likely run into some form of micro-manager
type anywhere you work> [https://hbr.org/2011/09/stop-being-
micromanaged](https://hbr.org/2011/09/stop-being-micromanaged)

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AnimalMuppet
Don't stay for guilt. Don't feel that you're their last hope of making it, and
therefore it you quit, it's your fault that they didn't make it. No, it's the
fault of the two founders, who can't grow up enough to run a company.

Now, to your question: If you get to the series A, how much do _you_ benefit?
Is it enough to be worth the headaches?

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EJTH
I was in a similar position once, except there wasn't really other devs (only
one more than me) and there was only a single leader/owner. I liked the owner
on a personal level, but his way of managing the company and the project we
worked on finally made me quit when he refused to let me fix some very grief
security issues in our code base.

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vkdir
What are you waiting for by staying?

~~~
jfr6fgjk
I think, just being the first employee and the "rock" for other engineers
(even though most have quit) leaves me feeling like I shouldn't just leave
everyone high and dry.

~~~
mcv
The company is not your sole responsibility. If the founders are making a
mess, and it falls to you to make this startup work, you deserve a share of
equity.

But do you really want to be co-owner if the founders are constantly arguing?

You are your own person. If it's time to leave, it's time to leave. I value
loyalty, and if you first want to sit down with the founders and tell them to
start doing their job, then do that. But if their mismanagement is destroying
the company, there's little you can do to stop it. Unless you take over. Are
there any outside investors? What leverage do they have?

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brudgers
Stay because there is are potential upsides to staying and because those
potential upsides are attractive relative to your alternatives. If there's an
attractive potential upside to staying through a Series A, then stay because
there is an attractive potential upside. That's not staying to 'help'. That
might be an increase in value of your equity. But it's probably not going to
entail much that isn't already in writing...so to speak.

To me, I doubt you can fix the situation. The founders have to desire to
change the culture and make doing so a priority. If people walking out en
masse doesn't inspire such change, then it ain't likely to change.

Good luck.

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rralian
Leave. Sounds like they'll fail and you'll be miserable the whole time. You
don't owe anybody anything. That's what I'd do anyway.

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mrgreenfur
Tell them to hire a product manager to lead the dev teams and they should go
sell something or do marketing, etc.

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dilemma
Leave.

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rasz_pl
two _non technical_ founders, that says everything you need to know

