I just started here so I don't have grapes to start a chat

Product Owner

The technical founder has a mental breakdown and wants to exit the company. He's the main person who developed the software and the whole team is freaking out.

The technical founder has a mental breakdown and wants to exit the company. He's the main person who developed the software and the whole team is freaking out. The mental breakdown was caused by his personal issues and we've been struggling to straighten him out for the past 3 months. We tried again and again to help him , we even took him to a therapist and even the therapist said "it's better to keep him at the hospital for a couple of days for observation" . He didn't want to stay there because he'll be labelled as mentally unstable. Now we don't know what to do ? He wants to leave the company when we're getting clients and we're about to crack a deal with the investors . This is breaking the company apart.

What actions to take when the co-founder has a mental breakdown ?

What actions to take when the co-founder has a mental breakdown ?- Grapevine

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Obviously i wouldnt sign the deal anymore

Just asking here ,if i should convince him to stay or just wind up everything?

Reason for his leaving: We have been struggling for an year & despite now raising a preseed ,he is afraid that the next two years might be with struggle & constant disappointments

Should i try to convince him by painting an optimistic picture or should i just accept that he is a redflag & just move on in life

Please don't troll, I dont have enough energy to fight trolls today

My cofounder is planning to quit , we have a preseed termsheet in place

Program Manager

I am going through my notice at an early stage Start-up.

The founder is extremely toxic and is trying to create issues despite me trying to work double hard.

She is not even seeing my face and acting all weird - I don't know how to deal with this.

How to deal with toxic founder during Notice period?

Product Manager

A company called loop health started allowing remote work and hiring in early 2022 soon after receiving $25 million dollars investment. 
Founders are a great pair in the initial but as soon after investment of series A , difference broke out and one of the co-founders left the company in the name of sabbatical from backdoor out. He was visionary and had great product sense which the CEO got jealous of and stopped him at all the cost of investors recognising him. Anyway now the real unhealthy thing is not this story but due to this product the scope got messed up and customers started complaining and renewals badly hit to 60-80%. The competitor got them easily , one of the sales people said on call at a loop that loop company customers are easy to catch for competitors.
Now the real story is, the CEO wanted only the Pune office to survive and all remote employees to leave so he did a little magic ✨. Instead of laying off people, strategically not compensating anyone started layoff from the beginning of the 2023 this year by asking each outsider to resign and leave. The strategy was simple, 
Find weakness and make them accept simple mistakes as well and ask them to resign. At the same time, hire contractors at Pune to join and work. If any employee is strong or doesn't want to leave then make them contract employees and expect work in the same way.
This is not at all acceptable and the CEO is not alone on this. CEO, CTO , CPO involved plan. 
The problem with this approach is unfair practices, if someone makes a mistake they won't give any PIP plan. They just fire them in easy  ways to resign. CEO proudly says he wants great tennis 🎾 team but infact ceo is just a ball boy.

Loop is unhealthy!

Data engineer

As the title suggests, does it make sense to talk about a colleagues’s inability to deliver to my manager. The colleague’s incompetence to take ownership is very evident now to everyone and the manager is not taking any steps on it. Others have to basically cleanup and babysit him. Worse part, this colleague gets paid the highest in the team. At this point it’s just breeding resentment across the team. How to handle this situation? Any tips. Early stage startup, the manager is part of the founding team.

Should you confront your manager about a colleague’s incompetence?

Generalist

This is an interesting trend fully driven by VCs/board

(Co)founders laid-off

A friend is pretty upset about where they are working. They feel a bit cheated with the #edtech company not growing as the founders kept promising them. The company has reversed its initial growth and is now not sure of the next steps. 

They were largely into giving charters instead of degrees and their pandemic success has disappeared. 

They are wondering if they should cut loss and jump ship before the company shuts. Or should they sink with the team?

The founders are pretty cool guys outside. With a good reputation. But they haven't been able to scale the company and promises have dried up. 

I wish I could reveal the name - but I don't want to affect anyone or point at anyone else. But my friend is really traumatised and has lost interest in work and is given new roles and responsibilities every week at '_t_a'. And everyone else is demotivated and upset with how the founders seem to cut their losses by doing secondaries but they can't do a thing! Even the investors don't seem to care much. 

My friend and a few others plan to take this up with the founders on Wednesday. And there is an internal revolt going on.

Edtech Dillema at '_t_a' - what should my friend do?

Founder

In your experience, what are some early signs that help detect incoming layoffs at a startup?

 It could be company-wide, team specific or in a particular function only.

Layoffs at startups: Early signs or warning signals

Software Developer

While the company is doing absolutely poorly and laying off people left right and centre, the two so-called founders are on vacation to the US chilling and hanging out with people.

It's a disgrace that the Indian startup ecosystem has founders like them who are busy expanding their social and financial status at the cost of employee wellbeing and mental health.

What a disappointment.

What actions to take when the co-founder has a mental breakdown ?

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