Well, I am not the entire team. There was great disagreement amongst the co-founders, in fact I lost friendships as a result and (now) have left the company en

Well, I am not the entire team. There was great disagreement amongst the co-founders, in fact I lost friendships as a result and (now) have left the company entirely. I was on the side of keeping everyone and involving them in coming up with a new idea. But that, my co-founders convinced me, and I actually now believe to be true, would be the worse ethical decision than simply being honest about the situation and helping the interns move on to opportunities where they could actually help build something and feel good about their summer. No, it wouldn't be ethical if we abandoned them, but that was far from the case. We made personal phone calls, emails and used our own networks to ensure everyone was taken care of with a better opportunity than we could offer at the time. During the transition of 2 weeks or so, all the interns continued to stay in our house, and a few stayed for free the whole summer. It was my pleasure to host the ones that stayed, and (they are well aware of this) when the day comes for them to do their own startup I will be the first person to offer social, emotional and (if capable) financial support form them to take their own risks and start their own adventures. For you to consider someone like Patrick, a brilliant kid in one of the most prestigious undergraduate programs in this country, to be incapable of making his own decisions is the real unethical position here. It's patronizing, it's demeaning.. and you ought to really think about what message you are sending. If the brightest kids (legally adults actually) in this country are not encouraged to look at the options that are available to them... to take risks because you really only get one chance at youth and at life.. that would be a real tragedy.