
Ask HN: Quitting a job with a YC company after less than a year, mistake? - ycjobquitter
(Keeping details to a minimum for obvious reasons)<p>The idea is great, there is some traction, but it is built on an incredibly shaky foundation.  I don&#x27;t have faith in the leadership team- they don&#x27;t know how to allocate or focus resources, don&#x27;t know what a good metric is, hire senior people then don&#x27;t let them do their jobs.  Micromanagement, morale and a complete lack of company culture are also major issues.  I&#x27;m tired of fighting the founders, I used to be motivated, now I don&#x27;t want to get out of bed in the morning.<p>I want to leave (I&#x27;m not the only one), but I&#x27;m concerned that this may burn bridges with other YC companies.  Am I correct to have this fear?  I&#x27;m not going to do anything unprofessional to leave on bad terms, going to give plenty of notice, wrap up my projects and get out.
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skewart
You should quit. Life is short. It's not worth wasting time at a place that
makes you unhappy. And from the company's perspective, it's better to hire and
onboard someone who would be a better match sooner rather than later. You're
not doing anyone any favors by staying.

> I don't have faith in the leadership team- they don't know how to allocate
> or focus resources, don't know what a good metric is, hire senior people
> then don't let them do their jobs.

I don't know you or the company or the founders so I have no idea if your
assessment is reasonable or not, but either way I think it's a sign that you
should look for a different job.

One thing I've found is that everything flows down from the top at a startup -
bad leadership begets bad management which begets bad execution. Based on what
you've said I'm not very optimistic about the company, no matter how great the
idea is.

There are companies that survive bad leadership by being in phenomenally
lucky. But if that were the case you wouldn't have said you have "some
traction". You'd have said tthing are growing like crazy and most people would
think you're crazy to want to leave.

To look at things from a different angle suppose your perception of the
founders is way off - imagine they're totally reasonable and smart and great,
but for whatever reason you're crazy and you don't see it. In that case you
should still probably look for another job. Put yourself in their shoes: would
you want a critical early stage employee who sees you as an incompetent klutz?

If you think you might want to stay and you think the leadership would be open
to it then it would be great if you mentioned some of your concerns to them.
Of course doing so might make it more awkward if you then quit a few weeks
later.

Overall, I think your best bet would be to find something else and leave on
good terms.

A year isn't a crazy short amount of time to be at a startup these days (it's
not like you're quitting after a few weeks). Jobs - especially early stage
jobs - are like relationships. Sometimes it doesn't work out, not through any
particular fault of either party, it's just not a good fit. People will
understand.

------
brudgers
In a community of related businesses, the bad workplaces are often better
known than the good ones because there's less reason to leave a good job and
it's harder to explain.

My random advice from the internet:

    
    
      1. Don't burn bridges.
      2. Don't stay in a place where there's 
         a bridge that ought to be burned.
      3. Most companies are chaotic.
      4. Most managers are not very good.
    

Good luck.

