Ask HN: Is it time to quit the startup? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it time to quit the startup?

3 pointspms125 comments

Here is the story: I started as an intern in an idea stage startup in college. The founders were looking for a CTO. I hit it off with the founders and they were also impressed by my work. They hired me full time as lead engineer and eventually elevated me to CTO. They also offered me a small equity(Company was registered after I joined fulltime; I'm considered as part of the founding team). From then on I led the dev team, built the entire platform from scratch. In the process I learnt a lot, both in tech and business. I am very grateful for the opportunity I got, given that I was a 22 year old fresh off college.

Fast forward two years, this is what is happening. 1. There is a growing discomfort between the CEO and the dev team. The CEO does not consider suggestions/advice from anyone on the team. There is a lot of passive aggression and it bothers me a lot. 2. I do not agree with the roadmap the company is heading towards. 3. The long term vision and planning is lacking. There has been three pivots so far. Although it seems like we have hit the right product-market fit, the next 18 month roadmap is hazy. 4. We have been making decent money from customers(enough to stay afloat) but not been able to raise VC funding from a year.

If I quit, the startup will take a big hit as there is no replacement on team for the role I'm playing(this is a big factor which is holding me from quitting). I'm feeling burnt out and unmotivated. I have tried to improve my relations with the CEO in the past but nothing much has changed since then. I'm half minded to quit now.

Other than the difficulty they'll have in replacing you, what other factors are keeping you there?

It's nice that the business can stay afloat with its current revenue, as that gives you some stability while you are looking for another job. So, it seems like a good time to be interviewing for other positions. There's no guarantee things will stay that way - with no clear roadmap, more changes may be coming that might limit the company's ability to stay afloat.

I don't necessarily see the lack of VC funding as a red flag. Is VC funding necessary for this company to succeed? Are you only interested in staying if there is the type of massive scaling that a VC generally requires? Or are you happy working for more of a bootstrapped lifestyle company?

That aside, the picture you're painting is of a job that you are staying at because of some level of guilt. Please don't let that keep you somewhere you are unhappy. Life's too short for that. They will find someone or they won't. People leave jobs all the time. It's totally normal. A business that cannot survive that is a business that is not going to survive anyway.

Well, thats the most important factor. Also I have put 2.5 years of my life into this company, there is an emotional connect which makes it hard for me to leave.

I dont have anything against bootstrapped companies. The current business model is human resource intensive. VC funding is a necessity if we have to grow fast and stay ahead of the competition.

More than guilt, I feel helpless and sad. I am sad that something I helped created is not going as I hoped it would. I feel like I should stay and fix it. But when I think about it practically I know the odds of that are pretty slim. That is why I'm struggling to make a decision.

It's good that you feel that way. You take pride in your work and that invaluable. But you are not facing a technological problem you do not know how to solve. You are facing a business problem that is largely out of your control.

Do yourself a favor and at least look at the other options out there. You are not committing to leaving. Just exploring. Having a concrete offer (or offers) to compare against your current experience might reframe your perspective.

(I don't mean to say it's good that you feel helpless and sad. Just that you take enough pride and ownership of your work that you care that your company succeeds. It will serve you well, as long as you don't let that be your only guide.)

That is good advice. I have not put much thought yet as to what I'll do after.

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