Dark side of starting up.
Sharing frustrations with starting up a business. In my career I have raised over $30m over multiple rounds.
Co-founders in non-business roles get pushed out by politics. Sharing control with co-founders is messy, inconvenient, time consuming. Money lets you hire people who have to answer to you.
If you are not the main ‘Business person’ in a startup high chance you are disposable, no matter what skills you have. And it sucks to spend so much effort only to get bullied out and left with nothing.
Some investors will follow you on social media, if your business is not growing QoQ don’t post anything on social media that implies you are not working every weekend. They will ask why you are not working.
If you are CEO, be ready for every random person to tell you how to run your business. Not in a ‘friendly advice’ kind of way, if you are the CEO you have a target on your back.
Investors don’t know about your industry or have very dated knowledge. Some will just say random tips like ‘try web3’ or ‘try SaaS’ and blame you for following their advice when it fails.
Your progress is measured against fraud companies who fake numbers, or the 1 in thousands who succeed. Get made to feel like you are failing to live up to super high expectations constantly.
Employees work half your hours, off sick usuall one day a week, deliver next to nothing and expect 20% hikes every year because that’s what their friends make, or they read some dumb startup hires freshers at 20LPA.
Smooth talking people with the same idea as you, no traction, never shipped a product in life, will raise a huge seed round due to 'pedigree' and spend it all on self promotion. You will always be compared to these clowns who find ways to lecture others while building nothing of value.
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So much truth in everything you’ve written “your progress is measured against fraud companies who fake numbers”
This has become just more prevalent over time. Confidently advice learnings from startups that are faking GMV or PMF metrics :)
Once i got sick of hearing "X company has amazing engagement" when I knew the real number is less than half.
I tried to tell them the truth, they asked for evidence. After I shared, they buried it, asking me to keep my nose out of others business and "we are all on the same team"
Yo @WittyFeed long time no see.
Bruh you raised 30mn it should come at cost, you are complaining about employees wanting 20LPA but you are enjoying sweetly with your 30mn$ and exerting power your employees. Everything comes at a cost
I don't think its right to expect employees to work similar hours as the founders. For employees without substantial equity in the company, it should be just another job. They should not work for the dreams of the founders/leadership team when they don't get substantial upside
Totally agreed man.. founders already taking huge salary + equity and expecting employees to put same hours! They should never measure the hours rather they should measure the outcome or quality of work.
Yep I hear my expectations are too high.
I'm really happy to work with anyone who consistently works 9-5.
That's really all I want in the world.
Can you elaborate on how you were bullied out of being a co-founder? We've read stories on media but if you can share the real details, could be an interesting read.
It's like high school crossed with domestic abuse.
First they have secret meetings without you.
They get hypercritical about everything you do to make your life miserable.
You are on eggshells, every small thing is a massive failure.
They yell at you, make you feel like you deserve it.
Try to make you quit.
If you don't quit, cook up a reason to fire you.
But why in your case?
Bro, it's a function of how much you give back to such random commentors. I am also a founder, raised 10M so far and we don't listen shit from investors, infact tell them clearly to stop bullshiting. Your get respect as much respect as you give to yourself. Stop taking shit, it's your company, you build how you think is the right way to build it
Hope you are financially rewarded well, despite getting pushed out.
Assuming likr most founders, you fint have much take home salary - how much have you made in secondaries sale from the fundraising? A narrow range would be helpful for reference , given 30mil fundraise.
I make the same salary of an experienced engineer.
No money out in 6y. Everyone thinks I'm rich.
I am currently starting up ,it is been 2 years only , hearing this all is very demotivating ? Especially the loans part , what to do to avoid all this @incognito any help
You cannot expect the employees to work same hours as you.
I know right. No point in working more than 45 hours unless you have a substantial stake in the business, or if it’s an extremely lucrative job.
Our average engineering salary is above 38LPA not including 25% variable for shipping on timelines they set themselves.
Around 20 out of 60 engineers we have don't even start work until 12noon. Around 50 out of 60 log off at 6pm. The average number of sick leaves per annum is above 13.
We rarely ship on time.
Man. $30M 💰is an amazing number. Wish i can have a beer or tea with you :)
Lol poor guy was just ranting (probably had a bad day or week), most of you turned on him. Have bit more empathy please. Also, 30 million raised doesn't mean the founder is rich. Secondaries happen much later and founders mostly take below market salaries. And I am pretty sure that was just asking for employees to do their regular hours, but consistently. You'd be surprised at how few do.
My peers from my first job all make more fixed than me lol.
I was even outbid by my very own engineering manager on a flat I wanted to rent.
FmL