Whats obvious that I should have done? These guys were my friends and only acted like this because they have an advisor they trust telling them to.
An advisor did not force any of your "friends" to do what they did. They made a conscious decision to act.
People screw each other all the time. It's part of life. The main thing is that you learn from this.
A YEAR! MF! That's meant to be long! FTS! A friend is someone you have validate of ten or twenty years of shared adventure. Treat everyone else as a possible friend (and likely tosser).
- Have a vesting schedule for your equity. This way if things go south, you'll have a certain portion of your equity vested. - Negotiate a higher equity stake in the first place if you're playing such a founding role. In my opinion, if the product didn't exist before you joined the team, then you're a founder. Remember that we're looking at this with the benefit of hindsight. - Made the agreement up front that you had control over the technical decisions since you have the expertise to make those decisions.