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Comment by paulitex | Hacker News Reader

Only 4 days after losing their Lead Engineer. http://twitter.com/#!/KirinDave/status/70217986962751488

Anyone know the reason why? I'm not asking because the popcorn factor but rather to understand if there's something fundamentally broken about the concept & company.

Uh huh. "I was thinking about changing banks, but Dave Fayram left the banking startup I was thinking of using, so I think I'll stick with Chase".

Pretty sure this is a popcorn topic and nothing more.

You don't think the Lead Engineer leaving a company not long before it's launch is not something to be worried about?

Because, no way is a message board full of geeks going to come up with a way to justify drama!

No? Programmers get better offers all the time. Why make less money at an uncertain startup when you can make more money somewhere that has a certain future?

I have no idea that this happened, but people leave for reasons other than "the product sucks". In fact, I would guess that compensation and getting along with your coworkers are much bigger factors.

FWIW, it certainly doesn't sound like it was for a better offer. He's actually on the market right now: http://twitter.com/#!/KirinDave/status/70222704883662848 http://twitter.com/#!/KirinDave/status/70221497888808960

Surely, if it's Important to understand why Dave left BankSimple to understand the health of the company, it must also be Important to know what kind of offers Dave has on the table now. Surely this isn't just drama!

I personally could care less about his offers. I honestly don't even care about the person in question (no offense, heh). And for most startups this type of stuff wouldn't bother me. If this was a twitter clone, I doubt anyone would care. But when it's a startup whose sole job is to handle and store money, I think it's worth being a bit more paranoid of the goings on within the company.

You may disagree, but that's my line of thinking on the subject.

Give me a break. You don't have the slightest clue who's doing dev work at the companies that handle your money today. PayPal probably loses a lead dev once a week; nobody writes threads about that.

This is just a nugget of drama small enough for people to get their nerdy little hands around and hacky-sack across HN. It doesn't help that Dave's someone a lot of people here know.

This isn't as big a deal as I'm making it sound, but I don't like arguments that insult our intelligence.

This is like talking about 2 people... that are actually in the room... listening... standing next to you.

It is flattering to be under such scrutiny. I feel as if the slightest motion of my fingertips could send startups spinning into chaos. Would my medical records and long-form birth certificate be of any use? My cancer history might change how you want to invest your money.

To be fair, these links all came from twitter - you broadcasted into a very public channel. To an entirely outside observer (eg me) it's worth noting... Personnel is a very big deal in startups, BankSimple is relatively high profile, and you were their 'Lead Developer'. The scrutiny comes with the territory.

You're talking about it because it's fun to talk about. You don't care that it has practically nothing to do with the topic at hand. And despite the fact that you're talking about a person who's in the room, you're fine with speculating about his career.

And, whatever, but don't try to pass it off as high-minded.

No offense, but you come off as a bit of jerk in this whole thread. I think that speaks more than the supposed drama of your departure.

Point taken. The next time people try to misattribute subtexts to my tweets to drum up drama, I will try to stay out if the way. Even if that drama might have a negative effect on my career and relationships, I will remain silent.

I apologize for my glib comment. Originally, I was on your side and felt the derail was unwarranted given the original context. Perhaps advice we can both benefit from is that the lesser said the better.

Yeah let's definitely find a way to make him share the blame for this thread.

What the fuck are you talking about? No he doesn't. He hasn't cursed once in the whole thread, even though it's attempt to turn a story about Banksimple issuing cards into a conversation about the drama of his departure from the company.

Jiminy. There are people coming off as jerks on this thread. Dave isn't one of them. I might be, but if so, I'm far from the only one.

This intense urge to turn every goddam thread into some soap opera --- no, I got that wrong, some lucha libre backstory --- is one of our worst habits, and the people who give a shit about HN discussions need to start calling it out.

This topic you want to talk about is none of your fucking business.

I heard Wells Fargo kidnapped his family...

My concern would be "gee, hope he wrote good documentation."

I sincerely doubt the code is even 5% of the effort that went and is going into making this company. They're building a product in one of the most heavily regulated sectors in a market with an enormous barrier to entry. Dumping the entire codebase and starting from scratch would probably take only a few months, except that the new code would likely have to be re-certified by a dozen agencies.

I'm the CTO of BankSimple. I can confidently say that there's nothing fundamentally broken about the concept or company. BankSimple wasn't the right place for Dave, but he's a brilliant programmer – seriously, one of the best I've ever worked with – who will end up doing great things no matter where he ends up. I'm really grateful that we got a chance to work with him.

To be clear: this is not the easiest business in the world to start, particularly given the slow-moving pace of the banking industry, regulatory burdens, etc. But we've been making substantial progress, and we have a growing team who do fantastic work.

You are, of course, free to be skeptical of how I present the state of our company because it's in my best interest to put a positive spin on things. That said, it's also in my best interest to be open, because we know that many of our early (potential) customers are coming from communities like this one, and building trust is critical for our success.

It is almost like we are professionals.

But be careful, Al3x. Being professional about these sorts of things generates almost no News Forum Karma, which as we all know is a critical resource for startup fund raising. I suggest you edit your post with a few tactical emoticons.

Errr ... can you explain the reasoning behind your reply? Did you feel that the average reader would not be intelligent enough to notice that you did not actually answer the question? (why did Dave quit/was fired).

If anything your post has gotten me to trust your service significantly less, because it looks like you think you can get away with duping potential customers with some polite doublespeak.

Can you explain how it is you are being open when you did not in fact answer the question?

It's none of your business why Dave quit/was fired.

Of course not. And if al3x had just said that, it would have been swell. In fact, that would have fit much better with his claim of openness than the cookie-cutter non-answer he actually gave.

He's politely giving you all the information that it is prudent and professional for him to reveal.

Allow me to put it bluntly: my reasons for leaving BankSimple are my business. I have no interest, reason, or obligation to tell you more than I have.

That's a tweet that suggests acrimonious split if I've ever seen one.

Yes, clearly it means the opposite of what it says, because Dave is like that. I love drama, don't you?

After all, I am known for my reserved, duplicitous, and very guarded twitter account.

Twitter blocked by evil firewall at work. What does this tweet say?

"I've stepped down from my position as lead engineer of BankSimple. I wish them good luck, with or without me." by KirinDave (Dave Fayram)

> I've stepped down from my position as lead engineer of BankSimple. I wish them good luck, with or without me.

Interesting that his pic is still in their "Team" mosaic on the homepage.

Twitter's staff pic on their recruitment page shows a lot of people who have left too.

They should put big red X's over each member that left, Battle Royale style.

They're kind of busy.

Yes -- either they want to keep his pic there, to give the false impression that they're still benefiting from his expertise! Or even worse, now that Dave has left, there's no one in the company technically capable enough to update their home page.

Either way, this is serious! I'm going to start on my "breaking news" blog post now!

Or, you know, they could be busy with work that's actually important.

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