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Comment by adamzerner | Hacker News Reader

Do you knoW that this person is a legitimate psychopath?

Good question. It feels like this term is being thrown around quite a lot.

Out of curiosity I browsed Wikipedia which had this to say:

    Psychopathy emphasize three observable characteristics to varying degrees:
    
    - Boldness. Low fear, high tolerance of stress, unfamiliarity and danger, and 
      high self-confidence and social assertiveness.
    
    - Disinhibition. Poor impulse control including problems with planning and  
      foresight, lacking affect and urge control, and demand 
      for immediate gratification. Low conscientiousness.
    
    - Meanness. Lacking empathy and close attachments with others, use of cruelty 
      to gain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance 
      of authority, and destructive excitement seeking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy#Definition

I think this applies closely.

I am surprised that the tendency to compulsively lie is not also in the Wikipedia definition.

But when it comes to something as medically severe as psychopathy isn't it the whole point that it shouldn't matter what you, or me, or any layperson thinks?

If you already don't like this coworker because of disagreements and actions at work, you're very likely to overestimate these symptoms, or believe that someone who is only a little ways along the spectrum to psychopath is actually much further.

Imagine if we believed everyone who went through a bad breakup or divorce and called their ex partner a psychopath out of anger (even justified anger). It just seems really extreme to use some armchair diagnosis from someone emotionally invested in believing bad things about the other person.

This isn't as juvenile as a dislike. I spent my PhD on the technology for this company and licensed it from a tier 1 university and started the company. This individual (hindsight is 20/20) coerced me to make probably the worst decision by giving him fully vested equity only to leave for a different opportunity after and yet wish to have a say on issues that are Board issues.

Again this post was a message to any founder finding a partner. Things may be rosy in the beginning but if you are paired with someone who fundamentally is only motivated by money they will always choose their own interest over the company. Even if that means actively sabotaging and slandering.

Again I do not want to air dirty laundry but I was landed the unfortunate worst case scenario.

Anyone who thinks that I am being one sided is allowed to have that prerogative. I cannot give full details but please imagine the worse situation you can get into with a first partner, I am talking them trying to smear your reputation and sabotaging the company in order to get their way, not just some friendship that went bad. Please proceed with caution and do not be overly trustworthy.

If anyone wants to know more I would be happy to talk directly. But I'm sharing this because founders with genuine intentions and the ones who get damaged the most by individuals like this.

Hi, I am quite sure I have a good idea of what you're going thru (see my comment history for my rants). I have vented enough over the past 2 years and all the stress has burned out, so I'm over it all (I think). But I can't help but offer support whenever someone raises this sort of topic...

Your problem seems, based on what you say, a lot more narcissistic than the guys I had to deal with - yes, that is actually a positive, believe me. The problem is obvious... I lost 5 years of my life to this stupid startup and got little out of it except some harsh life lessons.

Good luck, and if you don't have a lawyer, get one.

That is a good point. It is more of a spectrum. I try not to use this term lightly but I have never met a person with such a disregard for their own equity. They boost their ego by constantly speaking about themselves in a grandiose way, yet have achieved nothing of substance. It seems they have this reality built through consistently lying that they wish to project on the world. I mean bold easily discoverable lies. These lies are being uncovered and this person is now being found out, causing them to act in malicious ways. Being a rational human being and engineer by training, it was juts inconceivable how to go though daily life like this. I try to live in objective reality, but this was just a fantasy world to this guy.

I have never really met "crazy" or understood in a direct sense what "psychopathic" meant but to associate certain word I would attribute the following as to what I mean as psychopathic with this individual: "a pathological liar", "self-destructive", "narcissistic", "irrational", "vitrolic". I mean this person thought he was the next coming of Marc Andreessen.

In an objective sense it is unfortunate that there are actually people who live like this. But I wrote this article to warn start-up founders that are just starting out looking for a co-founder or a "mentor". I was just a PhD engineering student when I started, I did not know how to adequately gauge business prowess or to read through a person like this.

I can say I've learned what NOT to do and what NOT to be like. Now I am a less trusting and more guarded person.

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