Ask HN: Should I stay or should I go?

It seems exceedingly obvious to me that you should leave. Which makes me wonder in the first place why you are even being hesitant about this decision.

1. You should not feel bad about anything. They could fire you at any time (assuming control is split equally among the three of you). You do not owe them anything. As long as you're respectful in telling them you're leaving, there is nothing wrong with quitting.

2. That being said, I also believe that you're a bit misguided about the best direction for a startup at this stage. I disagree that it is smarter to focus on developing an audience instead of building the product. In order to build an audience you at least need an MVP to show to potential customers/users. Your slow audience growth numbers are easily explained by the lack of a minimally fleshed-out product. You are not going to see huge numbers for a landing page. And many products require some sort of education / early adoption before they get mass traction. Speaking for myself, if I see a landing page I'm not going to even bother putting in my email on the invite list. I'd like to see a demo at the very least. The fact that you guys don't have an MVP after two months is a bit of a concern for me. I'm not sure how much responsibility you bear for that. This point is irrelevant as to your decision on whether you should leave, but it's something for you to reflect on if you ever want to start another company (by yourself, with others, etc.).

Re: the no MVP. Since this is a content-based startup, I think our MVP should be some sort of blog/tumblr to build an audience. Our content is our core product. We aren't doing anything novel in terms of technology. Right now we're building a platform around that content, but I think our efforts are better spent building an audience than building the platform.

" I have serious doubts about the team and am doubtful that the product will be successful "

That's a sign to go. If you don't believe in the team and the product, then why are you spending time on the startup?

You should leave. But give them time to find a replacement or mend their ways. Moreover you would not want to put the entire blame of a failed(lets hope not) product on you. Also leave only if that is the last resort. Working in startups is a great leaning experience, especially for developers. You being the some developer must be taking care of everything from ideation to execution and deployment. Very few people get to do that. But if you are unhappy with the work, the people are not nice and the product is dodgy its better to call it quits. Its not cowardice, its practical. This is not adding any value to you or them

It doesn't sound like anyone is really 'hungry' for success at this company. Is the source of funding from this Co-Founder not limited in any way? Are you being paid?

Sometimes the best thing to do before just walking away is to set some goals with very clear expectation and consequences. One of those consequences can be that you will leave. This way, if you are interested in saving your relationship with these guys you can avoid dropping it on them out of nowhere. Who knows, maybe they'll turn around. But I can feel your frustrations. It's no fun babysitting co-workers.

That's a very good point about the unlimited funding. I am being paid, but I think the co-founder has deep pockets to keep this thing going. Which is almost unfortunate, because it means no one is desperate for this thing to be a success.

I'll try to think of some goals I can set.

I would take this post and email it to them. What's the worst that could happen? If you're debating leaving anyhow, you might want to give them a dose of truth and let them have the opportunity to see the error in their ways. OR they could always fire you. In which case you accomplish the same ends, without the guilt. In that case they would be the ones doing something "wrong". Two months of work at a startup isn't really valuable experience on a resume anyhow, so you wouldn't be losing anything.

Don't feel bad, it's not your company but it is your life. It is obviously already dysfunctional and there's no point gambling it will stop being dysfunctional on top of the already slim chance it will succeed at all.

I'm leaning towards go. I have seen a lot of start-up with a positive vibe. So win or lose at least spend your time somewhere pleasant.

Better to go out. No doubt. Companies shouldn't be a TV Show drama. Better going before things go bad or very awkward.

You can just start dicking around just like them. Learn a new language/framework/NoSQL DB on their dime "because it will be useful later". If no one gets up to manage you and set some realistic and meaningful goals, all the better. If someone does, then maybe they give a real shit after all.

I have one awkward question for you :

- why do you choose to work on certain pieces of functionality and not others?

1. Build something like graphite/carbon to provide metrics and display them easily. Start with the ones you mention - audience numbers and growth.

2. Talk to the co founders - start with a letter that you simply hand over the table in the pub. In it explain pretty much the above comment, maybe without the only adult comments

3. As someone else mentioned, set some goals and prepare to walk.

4. Consider your exit strategy - how much runway do you have personally? Want to get FTE or contract?

Basically try to mend it - but give yourself a fixed time horizon of no more than three months

#1 is a good point -- I never thought about building some type of metric dashboard. Thanks!