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Ask HN: Should I stay or should I go?
3 points by jslove on Oct 23, 2018 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments
I started a company with a friend. The friend is good at sales but not technical and bad at cost control.

Long story short the company lost a ton of money and now is pivoting to some software that I wrote. My issue is that the investors owe me 130k in back pay (almost 1.5 years worth) and are blaming me for my partner's cash burn. Despite this it looks like by end of month we will have raised 2 million additional investment based on my software and partnerships I signed.

I don't really believe the company can pivot because there are only a couple of technical people: myself, a dev I hired and a couple of part time outsourced devs I manage (all in low cost jurisdictions). I am working only part time until they settle the back pay stuff. I am not the highest paid person and others did get paid. I am just associated with my friend who burned the cash (he also got paid more than me). Also the investors given me any warrants that were promised.

I am working part time on a second startup. 2 investors I ran into offered me 500k to launch it. Should I jump? Or do both?

I need someone to work with... and almost every company needs sales guys. Maybe hire my friend?




If you have 500k to launch a new startup then best to cut ties with the old one because no matter how much time and effort you put into the old one it will never be operated in a manner that you are comfortable with. Better to cut your losses and live life happy, in control of your own fate and have the 500k to do it with. Just sign away all but a small portion of the old startup.


good advice thanks


If it's your company why are you not getting paid? And why are you not in control? Maybe I'm reading this wrong but it sounds like there's either a lot more to this that you've not mentioned or you've some underlying problem, if you don't address that problem you're just going to be taking it with you and the same thing will happen to you at the new startup.


We raised so much I am at 2% + warrants in ownership. Again a bunch of the issues stem from my partner who went pedal to metal and blew through millions.


You should probably get a lawyer.


I spoke to one... He basically said I am screwed as a company director I can't do anything against company interests or get sued :(




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