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Ask HN: YC company walked away with customer funds – alert YC?

48 points by mu100 ↗ HN
Hey HN community - Before I fill out the general contact form for YC, I thought I'd check here first.

My situation is that I haven't been able to get in touch with the founders of a YC company for a few months after engaging them on a project, signing agreements, and wiring them a considerable sum of money (tens of thousands).

The last communication from the company was an informal email from the CEO in July saying they were dealing with funding issues, but that's the last I heard from them, which feels totally unacceptable.

Is there a channel for communicating this type of issue directly with YC?

6 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 18.7 ms ] thread
racino84
This isn't the place for this. Get a lawyer and contact them. HN isn't a place to get in touch with YC companies for issues with them.
zkim
I believe OP is asking for advice on whether to contact YC about a problem they've had with a YC company, rather than trying to get a response on HN from the company.

I'm generally curious about this as well, does anybody know if there's a precedent for YC acting as an intermediary between customers and YC companies?

csomar
You don't provide much details. Did you engage them in a contract or are they holding customers money? (aka digital bank). You need to understand that they are a commercial company and like all other companies can fail to deliver or go bankrupt if they don't have sufficient funding. Check the terms of your contract with them.

YC, HN has nothing to do with it, though.

andreshb
YC is a minority stake investor, not their boss or board member.

It seems that what you are looking at is a breach of contract where the company did not deliver what they agreed to deliver.

If the company ran out of money, they are probably a dead company/ bankrupt and have or will shut down. They are unlikely to be able to return the money or deliver, and you could end up either trying to sue a company that is dead and/or pierce the corporate veil alleging fraud.

Check with your lawyers.

mwseibel
Feel free to drop me an email. Michael@ycombinator.com