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I do the dirty tasks for a non-technical founder. Everybody he hires for a task does heavy corner cutting. Technical debt is enormous. Details are not taken care of. I like the guy, so I help him ignoring cost of opportunity. I do all the plumbing and fixing the tiny details and changes at 2 am. But that’s not sustainable. That’s not the way to build a business with prosperous future.


Totally empathize with you and I've been there. At some point, it does make sense to exit amicably in these situations. My experience has been that the non-technical founder will see things as they truly are, eventually.

At that point, you can re-establish another engagement where things are budgeted for a balance of speed and longevity.

To be fair, there is a purpose for Technical Debt and for cutting corners, esp for MVPs or demos. But it has to be a balance and the cost of the debt carry has to be appreciated.


Do you have a stake in the business?


No. I don’t. Just helping. Because I like this elder gentleman. And he has growing revenue stream from his project.




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