Hacker News Reader

Comment by ingenieros | Hacker News Reader

Did he come up with the idea or initial funding? Why is he even on your team to begin with?

He came up with the idea. Has no funding. He is a long time high school and college friend and the only person I know that wants to pursue entrepreneurship.

You might want to read up on the Reggie Brown Vs. Snapchat lawsuit settlement.

Eek, went through the same thing except we did it for a whole year. Skillset or not, sharing core values/beliefs is most important. Because when shit goes south, if you have someone who is just as committed as you are (for the right reasons), there is nothing you can't overcome when the core values align.

Although this is really hard because people show their truest faces when shit goes south. So you won't know for sure unless this is someone who you've spent and enjoyed spending lots of time with for a while.

After spending time thinking critically about the past year, here are some rough open-ended questions I've come up with that I think would shed light into one's core values.

How do you approach solving a problem (any size, scope)? What locus of control do you believe in? Is there value in rolling up your sleeves?

If I ask him those questions, and he becomes offended at the fact, I think that will be a red flag. He seems to think that anything he says can't be questioned...going back to earlier, how he says he doesn't want to argue to get his point across when I asked him about what his role would be.

He said the way I asked it made him offended.

My view is that I touched on one of his weaknesses and it made him insecure about his position in the business.

I feel for you.

Don't do it.

Money brings out the worst in people.

Arguing is healthy. Just depends on how it comes & what it's over. Obviously, if your relationship deteriorates to the point that you are arguing for little value then that's bad - I do think arguing early is better than arguing late. It'll be insightful for you and him, to be honest. You'll learn a little more about yourself and a lot more about him in how the argument progresses and more importantly, how it ends.

All non-tech founders are insecure about their position in the business. I think any competent non-tech founder should be insecure about their position imo, if there is a component of technology to the business.

I was too, so I just kept working and supporting in as many ways as I could think of.

Thankfully, our product was online-to-offline, so there was plenty of work to be done.

But don't do it.

> He seems to think that anything he says can't be questioned...going back to earlier, how he says he doesn't want to argue to get his point across when I asked him about what his role would be.

Such a red flag. Even if he is a great ... whatever this attitude is a big red flag. You won't be able to work this guy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com