Co founder fraud

[umbrabates]

Ycombinator app is due today, we did an early submission.

I’m a non technical co founder (no brand name background or uni)

I found out technical my co founder is a fraud today, never worked at company he claimed to work at (faang). He did work at other companies claimed to- Series A/B VC backed companies in India.

We have had crazy user and revenue traction since applying.

Do I:

1) withdraw my application, apply later with a new co founder
2) kick him out and submit alone, re do
Video etc
3) get him to just edit his founder profile with the truth

 

[holiness4]

@umbrabates He's a liar and will always be one. Get away from him asap. My psychopathic lying cofounder ruined our company, because they're a liar.

Your company may or may not die when you try to do this.

 

[whitefire_nomura]

@holiness4 Did we have the same cofounder? Same story here lol!

 

[613jono]

@whitefire_nomura Had similar experience, said worked at Google and ibm and Morgan Stanley. My Indian friend said it feels unlikely given the uni he went to. So I said to the guy that it is standard practice in the uk to ask for reference to prove you have worked where you said you have, never replied to me after that. Dodged a bullet.

 

[someguy29]

@whitefire_nomura Also had a similar experience and the lies and deceit only got worse. Get rid of him asap before he sinks you.

 

[umbrabates]

@holiness4 Won’t die, have runway, have leverage, have traction.

Have plenty of angels and micro vcs available.

 

[holiness4]

@umbrabates Ok. Are you the CEO? Do you have board control? Did you confront them yet? Do you own all the admin passwords and accounts? Do you have sole bank account access? Do you have the power to fire them? Do you have an employment lawyer lined up? Do you have a good corporate lawyer?

 

[umbrabates]

@holiness4 Yes ceo, have board control, confronted, yes have all the passwords changed now, have sole bank access, have power to fire, have a default lawyer at a top law firm, no employment lawyer

 

[holiness4]

@umbrabates Well they now know you know. It couldy go favorably or they could try to destroy your life and your company. They will do things and gas light and set things up with planted evidence that you can't possibly imagine or fathom, assuming you're the one telling the truth. Good luck. This also assumes they are actually psychopathic. At best you just have a liar that got caught and their personality does not stray too far into the dark tetrad.

 

[girlsmitten]

@umbrabates Force a sale to you. Make him exit in exchange for not suing him. Now you’ll have more control. Recruit a vp/CTO to take over.

Now he did build the product. So we can all learn that the resume didn’t hinder your company’s success.

 

[johncunningham]

@umbrabates Why do you need a lawyer at a top firm for a failed idea you have and a cofounder u met off fiver? Your “idea” already exists in the App Store.

 

[dar858]

@johncunningham Are you the lying co-founder?

 

[ilikemango]

@umbrabates You need to get rid of him. Since you have traction you don’t need a cofounder who codes. I’d suggest a lead engineer for front end/backend and maybe an ad hoc CPO who can answer technicals if brought up on calls.

Your OA should have a fraud clause that lets you claw back all equity given to cofounder in case of fraud. May need legal advice on doing this properly with notices etc IANAL

 

[mindjammer]

@holiness4 I had a similar story, but I was naive to psychopathy and thought people can change, but it was a mistake in my experience. My "cofounder" took all our runway and disappeared out of the country which killed the startup (for a bit). He came in with cash at first and wanted to be an investor. As we got to talk we eventually decided to be partners and put money in the company together, and I could take care of the technical stuff while he manage the non-technical side. Things were going well at first. We grew our team to 6 people and my hopes were high as we were getting clear indicators that our early users loved the beta version of the product. He wanted to raise more (expecting there will be a market crash and that we should capitalize on our early growth) so he raised a bit more and I put more money for more equity in the company, and boom--it turned out he was a fraud and stole the whole runway. I later learned he did the same thing with other people when I tried to pursue legal action. I lost more than 100k from my own savings, leaving me with 30k or so to manage my life. With no income and people to pay, burn rate way high. Had to lay off people to keep some cash for myself and started living in friends houses. It left me devastated for a while.

Thankfully back on my feet now, we are about launch soon.

 

[ansres]

@umbrabates I would say cut him off and shoot YC an email about the situation and an update, they’ve dealt with these situations before

 

[lillian2014]

@ansres They would also ask him why he applied without properly vetting the cofounder. This is a clear sign he hasn’t known his cofounder for a significant time.

 

[umbrabates]

@lillian2014 I referenced him, but he bribed a faang employee lol, he was fine at engineering just didn’t work where he said he did

Passed technical test from us set by a early faang engineer

Not sure how I could’ve avoided unless asking for multiple references from one employer or calling the company up

 

[613jono]

@umbrabates I thought normally the reference needs to come from the HR department. All my previous job there were dedicated HR inbox for it - not just any employee can issue it…

 

[drew873]

@613jono I don't think HR from FAANG will get on the phone with randos asking if other randos used to work there. At best they'll issue a PDF with employment verification but probably easy to fake?

 

[613jono]

@drew873 If it is standard practice then there is a process of doing that, not through phone but document. There are specific firms who do this type of thing as well..