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Ask HN: Most of team quit my startup. What to do?

28 points by jfr6fgjk ↗ HN
I'm the first employee at a startup that has been experiencing management issues. The two founders are often fighting each other for power. Both are micromanaging. We discuss new features, eventually prioritize, and create a sprint. Then, every couple of sprints, a new emergency happens and we switch it up to accommodate. This and general management issues have been stressing out employees, which we've all made clear.

After a lot of conflicts, the entire backend team eventually left, except myself. (A few frontend devs remain.) I'm experiencing the same issues, still. We're gearing up for a series A with maybe half a year of runway, so I feel like I should stay and help, but I often feel like I should also quit. I guess I'm looking for advice on how to either try to fix the situation, or options to leave with dignity.

20 comments

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preetnation
Don't stay for obligation so ask yourself if you honestly still believe - it sounds like you don't.

If you don't still believe, pull off the band aid and tell the founders you plan to leave. However, tell them you'll stay with them through the new year to 1) buy you time and 2) not burn bridges with them.

vkdir
What are you waiting for by staying?
jfr6fgjk
I think, just being the first employee and the "rock" for other engineers (even though most have quit) leaves me feeling like I shouldn't just leave everyone high and dry.
mcv
The company is not your sole responsibility. If the founders are making a mess, and it falls to you to make this startup work, you deserve a share of equity.

But do you really want to be co-owner if the founders are constantly arguing?

You are your own person. If it's time to leave, it's time to leave. I value loyalty, and if you first want to sit down with the founders and tell them to start doing their job, then do that. But if their mismanagement is destroying the company, there's little you can do to stop it. Unless you take over. Are there any outside investors? What leverage do they have?

elcct
This is not your company, so what's the point?
hga
I completely understand that, I've been there, but here's another way of looking at it:

I can't see any way this company is going to succeed. I wouldn't even think about staying without engineering a change in management, which it sounds like would require ejecting the worst of the 2 founders, assuming the other isn't also inherently a non-stay the course micromanager. And "that trick never works".

Note also their response to the this catastrophic, frequently company ending debacle; if they don't take it absolutely seriously, and as their fault, leave, the company is just not going to make it. "You can't fix stupid" is I think the maxim there.

NumberCruncher
Maybe your founders deserve a second chance? If I were you I would tell them that I stay but:

- I want to have from now on x% more salary, kind of a PITA bonus because I have to deal with amateurs

- maybe (more) equity, because if I have to tell a founder how he has to do his own job I am not only an employee any more

- to claim the right (maybe include it also in your contract) to refuse breaking sprints

And of course I would start for looking for a new job, just in case.

xiaoma
Spend 20 minutes each night journaling your experiences for as long as you stay. This is an incredible opportunity to learn about high-stakes interpersonal conflict from a front row seat.
Silhouette
Unfortunately, it sounds like the current company culture is toxic and most likely beyond hope of redemption. Unless you have

(a) enough influence with the company leadership to make a real difference to the culture in the immediate future

AND

(b) the company has good prospects if only the management issues could be resolved

AND

(c) the risk of staying is balanced by a huge potential upside for you personally (such as already having a potentially life-changing level of equity AND a bulletproof contract)

then I would suggest you make plans to leave as well. Loyalty is a fine character trait, but so is pragmatism. There's no need to burn bridges or screw anyone, just find a better option, give a reasonable amount of notice, and do what you reasonably can to hand over to whoever is taking over your responsibilities for as long as you're still there.

mrmondo
Contact each one and ask them WHY they left and that honesty will not result in a poor reference.
EJTH
I was in a similar position once, except there wasn't really other devs (only one more than me) and there was only a single leader/owner. I liked the owner on a personal level, but his way of managing the company and the project we worked on finally made me quit when he refused to let me fix some very grief security issues in our code base.
rralian
Leave. Sounds like they'll fail and you'll be miserable the whole time. You don't owe anybody anything. That's what I'd do anyway.
rasz_pl
two _non technical_ founders, that says everything you need to know
mrgreenfur
Tell them to hire a product manager to lead the dev teams and they should go sell something or do marketing, etc.
ones_and_zeros
I'll tell you what you came here to hear, get out.

Everybody says they are "gearing up for a series A" and many many business never get a series A, never mind one that sounds like it is in such a mess.

Unless you have some insider knowledge (hockey stick growth, profit, etc) that the series A is guaranteed, it's not coming and will be used to bait you along.

JSeymourATL
> The two founders are often fighting each other for power. Both are micromanaging.

Ultimately, leaving is easy. A bigger challenge is learning how to handle Micro-managing superiors. You'll likely run into some form of micro-manager type anywhere you work> https://hbr.org/2011/09/stop-being-micromanaged

brudgers
Stay because there is are potential upsides to staying and because those potential upsides are attractive relative to your alternatives. If there's an attractive potential upside to staying through a Series A, then stay because there is an attractive potential upside. That's not staying to 'help'. That might be an increase in value of your equity. But it's probably not going to entail much that isn't already in writing...so to speak.

To me, I doubt you can fix the situation. The founders have to desire to change the culture and make doing so a priority. If people walking out en masse doesn't inspire such change, then it ain't likely to change.

Good luck.

AnimalMuppet
Don't stay for guilt. Don't feel that you're their last hope of making it, and therefore it you quit, it's your fault that they didn't make it. No, it's the fault of the two founders, who can't grow up enough to run a company.

Now, to your question: If you get to the series A, how much do you benefit? Is it enough to be worth the headaches?

jrnichols
Get your own affairs in order. Pay down some debt if you have any. Avoid large purchases. Make sure that you're going to be ok if the wheels come off and things come to a skidding halt.

Overall, are you ok with the job? Do you enjoy what you're doing? Are you learning new things? It's likely that you can't fix the situation with the higher ups, but you can certainly do what you can to make sure that you aren't going to be left stranded.