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I think you hit the nail on the head; anonymous CTO seems to have some commitment issues, and doesn't seem to realize that a site that's having unscheduled down

by olefoo 16y ago

I think you hit the nail on the head; anonymous CTO seems to have some commitment issues, and doesn't seem to realize that a site that's having unscheduled downtime of 3 or more hours a week is going to feel flaky (that's 98% uptime folks), and that it's his responsibility to take care of it. Battling over internet at his home is a proxy for his other frustrations with the startup. But yeah, expecting the CTO to have internet access at home, and to be able to keep the effing site UP for customers isn't out of line for a startup. My take, this venture is over; it's done, once team members are taking petty office grievances public like this, there is no team anymore.

anonStartupCTO 16y ago
I think you're right that there are some deeper issues here, and no one is doubting that the issues with the uptime need to get fixed ASAP, but I disagree with your notion that because I am taking my grievances public, the venture is over. There is a reason I am anonymous: I want to get feedback from other hackers, not throw my co-founders under a bus.
- damoncali 16y ago
  The sooner you talk to these guys about whatever the deeper issue is, the better off you'll all be. Left unaddressed, this kind of rift can grow to the point where it's unfixable. It's one of the toughest parts of building startup.
- olefoo 16y ago
  You've provided enough details that one of your cofounders or investors could certainly recognize themselves in your posting. How do you think they would react to this? How would you react if your CEO posted something along the lines of """How do I deal with a technical cofounder who refuses to do his job? We're in a critical period, our site goes down more often than twitter and my partner and I are out there everyday making sales but the guy we brought on board to build the site doesn't seem to understand how critical it is; he doesn't even want to shell out for internet so he can fix the site when it goes down out of hours.""" I'm guessing you would not be pleased to be pilloried like that , even anonymously. It would have been one thing if you'd turned to a mentor for advice, but by putting it up on HN you have created a situation that will turn what is already a tense situation with your cofounders into open war should it be discovered. And really, my sympathy is limited. If your site is crashing or failing regularly, then you should be fixing that instead of hanging out on HN looking for validation of your hurt feelings.

by olefoo 16y ago

anonStartupCTO 16y ago

I think you're right that there are some deeper issues here, and no one is doubting that the issues with the uptime need to get fixed ASAP, but I disagree with your notion that because I am taking my grievances public, the venture is over. There is a reason I am anonymous: I want to get feedback from other hackers, not throw my co-founders under a bus.

damoncali 16y ago
The sooner you talk to these guys about whatever the deeper issue is, the better off you'll all be. Left unaddressed, this kind of rift can grow to the point where it's unfixable. It's one of the toughest parts of building startup.
olefoo 16y ago
You've provided enough details that one of your cofounders or investors could certainly recognize themselves in your posting. How do you think they would react to this? How would you react if your CEO posted something along the lines of """How do I deal with a technical cofounder who refuses to do his job? We're in a critical period, our site goes down more often than twitter and my partner and I are out there everyday making sales but the guy we brought on board to build the site doesn't seem to understand how critical it is; he doesn't even want to shell out for internet so he can fix the site when it goes down out of hours.""" I'm guessing you would not be pleased to be pilloried like that , even anonymously. It would have been one thing if you'd turned to a mentor for advice, but by putting it up on HN you have created a situation that will turn what is already a tense situation with your cofounders into open war should it be discovered. And really, my sympathy is limited. If your site is crashing or failing regularly, then you should be fixing that instead of hanging out on HN looking for validation of your hurt feelings.