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I was busting my ass for 6 months – being told that the CEO was going to get the seed round done.I just got told today that it isn’t going to happen – out of the blue with no warning whatsoever.Now I’m out in the cold. Sucks being mushroomed…

  • I’m sorry that happened to you. Sounds like they were planning to screw you over no matter the outcome of the seed round. There are a lot of unethical characters out there, and they didn’t give you the wrong impression by accident. It’s pretty common for engineers to get kicked out the moment the prototype they built is good enough to raise money with.

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    • “Sounds like”?! How do you impute prejudice into a question that simply states that they didn’t get the funding? Have you actually been in a startup before? Clearly not. Fundraising is not a guaranteed process, no matter how good the chances. It ain’t over until the money’s actually in the company acct and investors can (and do) change their minds at the last minute.

      Bottom line, only a small portion of those seeking funding are successful, so OP’s experience actually happens all the time with startups.

      Reply

      • It’s the responsibility of the founders to explain to the employees what’s going on. The founders knew damn well that funding was likely to fall through at the last moment. Anybody with startup experience knows how common it is.

        Startup employees on the other hand find themselves blindsided, because they BELIEVE the delusional optimism of 20-something “CEO types”.

        When the founders lead the employees to believe that everything is going great and that the funding is coming through “any day now” that’s deceptive and manipulative as hell.

        The CEO always knows how much runway the startup has left, and had the CEO been honest the employees would have been prepared for the worst. Cut unnecessary expenses, put out feelers, dusted off their CV, and so on.

        Letting people know in advance they may be without a job in a month or two is basic human decency. Failing to do that is without question a scumbag move.

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  • Were you the only person who got screwed? Sometimes that’s just the name of the game. Many startups pulled success from the jaws of defeat at the very last minute so the CEO was probably being optimistic since its his job of rallying the troops.

    It sucks but that’s just the way it is.

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  • OP here.

    Actually, I’m a minority co-founder without salary. As the technical contributor, I was told repeatedly that the funding was coming along – that it would take a couple months after the 5 year budget was set in January.

    Earlier this week, I am told via a conference call – after 2 months of very little detailed news despite regular inquiries – that it wasn’t going to happen.

    I don’t have an issue with the seed funding effort failing – I had tried on my own before and also failed.

    My issue is that I wasted 2 months based on the CEO’s word that things were progressing – when in fact he failed to raise a single new dime from what he had earlier said was committed in January. If I look at the overall effort, this is 7 or 8 months.

    For that matter, I still haven’t seen an updated cap table or proof of any existing committed funding.

    I do understand that management has some desire to conceal shit from the troops – the possibility of failure induces some people to bail early.

    However, as a co-founder, this type of behavior is unacceptable. From my own management style, I’d equally refuse to act in such a selfish and unethical manner.

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  • I was on the verge of closing a seed investment. I and the rest of my team all felt good. Until the Investor at the 9th hour changed the terms and well everything fell through. Was it sonething like this?

    Reply

    • OP here

      Similar, but with even less information.

      For me, it was that I had no information past January as to what was going on despite my asking. I knew we needed another $350K, but I was told repeatedly that it would just take a couple months. What I found out last week was that ZERO progress was made and all options but one were exhausted.

      Reply

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