[issa]

It's really hard to "accidentally" not make payroll. This shouldn't be something that sneaks up on you. If you feel the founder deserves the benefit of the doubt, I would suggest reaching out to them first before doing anything else. But if that doesn't work it's really just a question of what you want out of the situation. You will probably never see the money regardless (lawyer/court costs, squeezing blood from a stone, etc) but it might be worth it to you to make the (very valid) point anyway.

[DyslexicAtheist]

i know an infinite number of people who got stiffed and have myself been on the receiving end plenty times. this isn't an accident it's the norm wit coked-up "fake it till you make it" start-up culture. 99% of the industry is toxic and it's not just entrepreneurs that fail but everyone who drank the cool aid ;)

[icedchai]

In over 20 years, I only ran into this with one startup. The founder ran out of money... twice. He was a nice guy so I gave him the benefit of the doubt this wouldn't happen again. Big mistake. It did... a few short months later.

The company was eventually "acquired" for pennies-on-the-dollar in a fire sale. Early investors got nothing. Of course, like many failed "acquisitions", this is seen as a success on his LinkedIn page.