Founder At Startup: Can I Quit?

[throwawaypixie]

I'm a founder of a startup, and I really want to quit.

But the consensus seems to be that if you quit your startup you'll "never work in this town again", you'll burn all bridges, etc. So, I thought I'd get HN's specific advice.

EU-based, working remotely with an international team. I'm effectively the COO. I keep the trains running on time, manage staff, etc. I'm working for almost nothing on the startup. I do other consulting work to actually keep food on the table.

I nominally own 33% of the company and am one of the founders, but the other 2 founders (who are also the investors) always vote together, so I have no real decision-making power. So far that's led to us abandoning an MVP model in favour of an all-bells-and-whistles release, hiring useless “consultants”, and losing our sole developer over a price argument. Now we're hiring for a new developer, they want to hire someone who only has half the old developer's skillset (no complex 3D / topology maths), because “all of that bit is already done”.

We were 2 months from launch when the developer quit. Dropping a new developer into the project: my best guess is an additional 2 months. [Thoughts?]. One co-founder also wants to add more features before launch.

Also, the investors have decided to change price model (block vote) which it seems will pretty clearly make a lot less money (but has less risk attached). This turns my projected share from $12k pm to maybe $3k pm if all goes well. Sadly, I agree that the market has changed.

The product isn't a "change the world" thing, but a specifically targeted product aimed at a small B2B market. I'm not doing this for the dream, but for income

I'm involved in other projects with the investors and other people too, and those are going better. I don't want to blow up my relationship with them.

Suggestions?

[romland]

You have my sympathies and I wish I could give any solid advice.

As far as I am concerned, the whole "you'll never work in this town again" I would just see as "the company is in trouble if you leave". If you don't have any customers there are probably very few that actually care if you leave the startup. There are likely more people in your surroundings that would rather see you happy :)

The real dilemma you have to face is that you'd like to stay on your two co-founders' good side and keep working with them on other projects. Going with what you say it looks like you are on opposite sides here. They obviously don't want you to leave, while you want to leave. The only thing you can do here is talk to them, find a middle ground somehow. Maybe you can do consultancy work for them? Is there a chance that they might be better off if you are happy?

I like being happy. :)

[throwawaypixie]

Thanks. I'll figure it out somehow. I agree, I like being happy too.

[alain94040]

Just quit properly and ethically. Tell the other founders/investors that you want out, and need to discuss a transition plan. Focus on the fact that you'll be out soon, and you want to minimize the disruption. That's the only ethical thing to do. Your resignation will be very disruptive, that's for sure. But there is some upside: the founders will get a lot of your shares back, so they can offer them to the next developer they need, and find a new "co-founder".

[influx]

Dumb question, but 3 founders and 1 developer? What other staff is there?

[notduncansmith]

I was wondering the exact same thing. They have 3 founders, only one or two of whom is actually necessary, and they're hiring consultants (the quotes led me to believe of a non-technical variety). On top of that they're not willing to pay to retain a (sounds like) good developer, and don't seem to understand how to manage a technical team at all (thinking a developer won't need a skillset because something is "done"). It sounds to me like these guys have absolutely no clue what they're doing.

You said you're doing consulting in your free time and you were only in this project for the money? If this project doesn't have a 200k+ upside in less than a year, you're better off consulting if you want the money. Do your own startup, even. There's plenty of ways to create passive income without working with these clowns. You're definitely better off leaving.

Find a way to make a clean break as early as possible, sell your shares back to the company (at a price that makes up for the money you lost by wasting your time with these guys), and let bygones be bygones. If anyone asks questions, you value happiness and income over misery and poverty. Most people will recognize that as a reasonable decision and respect you more for it than if you had stayed.

[Zigurd]

Keep it simple.

If it is as simple as "I can't afford to continue to invest my time." then there is no reason to make it more complicated. Write all the other stuff down and stick it in a drawer.

[zxcvvcxz]

I did. And I should have done it sooner. My situation was that of a technical founder who later recruited a few cofounders. After about a year working on the project, I lost interest in the problem being solved, and realized I couldn't stand the people I had brought on. But there were more of them than me, they were on the board as well, and we were part of an incubator-type program.

Not quitting sooner made me feel trapped with my team, which increased resentment amongst all members, which ultimately led to burning bridges. The real concern came when I realized that they actively worked to ruin my reputation within our network. Kind of shitty. But what's done is done, at this point I'm just wrapping up formal paperwork to cancel my shares, leave, and find whatever's next in life. Silver lining: I'm glad this experience happened earlier in life than closer to the peak of my career.

My biggest regret was not being forthright with my intentions to leave earlier. As a result, responsibility was placed on me, I failed to deliver, and it lead to these bad falling-outs.

Advice? Exit gracefully and professionally, wrap up lose ends, and try to keep people as happy/understanding as possible, even if you dislike them. Oh and get paperwork in order. Best of luck.

[imsofuture]

You'd probably be better off trying to fix these issues by addressing them directly -- for the sake of your relationships with the other parties. That said, you won't be blackballed for leaving a floundering startup your heart is no longer in, regardless of your role.

Make an earnest effort to fix all the things that are bothering you and then re-evaluate your situation.

[throwawaypixie]

I have had conversations with them about most of these issues, but I agree, there are a couple that still need to be discussed. I'll certainly try that before quitting - thanks.

[MalcolmDiggs]

IMHO it sounds like you're already gone. I mean, emotionally/mentally you seem to have left the building. So that decision is already done; you can cross that off.

As far as the paperwork is concerned, that's just a strategy play. Try to take any feelings out of it. Objectively what's the best move to keep these relationships strong and get what you want out of the situation? Whatever that is, do that. Personally, I wouldn't recommend leaving a vacuum; find a replacement for yourself and set up a transition plan. If the other founders choose to reject your replacement, then the burden is on them to find someone else, but you can at least try to make the exit easy on everybody involved.

They're going to be mad, and hurt, and sad. There's very little you can do about that; just try to be the calm one in the room if the situation gets heated.

[hynahmwxsbyb]

I'm a founder, and I get the sense that you're supposed to go down with the ship. Which likely means going into debt and declaring bankruptcy. If you're not the CEO it's probably easier to leave quietly, but make sure you give up most--if not all of your shares. If you're the lynchpin and you leave then it may haunt you. Future VCs are going to want to see that you can deal with adversity. Fail fast is only an option if you haven't taken external capital. If you have, the expectation is to swim until you hit land or drown.

[tptacek]

No. That expectation does not exist.

[compare]

If you do end up finding a way to make a break up with non-technical founders go smoothly, without them running your name through the mud or threatening to blackmail you, then please do let us know. Not sure it's possible.

[tptacek]

Uh, what? Founders quit startups all the time. You need to talk to more of them.

[thanesh]

what is your idea?