[simonswords82]

When a founder doesn't know that they don't have money to pay their employees it's unforgivable.

When a founder concludes they might have to fight to save their company and might not be able to pay employees in X months time that's an entirely different proposition. You can be upfront with your employees and hope that they stick around. Or you can keep quiet and do everything necessary to save the company and hope the employees never need to know.

It's a gamble either way but I suspect the majority of founders opt for keeping quiet in the hope they can snatch success from the jaws of defeat.

[WillPostForFood]

> When a founder doesn't know that they don't have money to pay their employees it's unforgivable.

This is a constant state for a startup, from day 1. You always have a runway of some length at which point you know you can't pay your employees. The question is when you start to warn about the runway running out. It's much more grey than you suggest. 2 days warning is unconscionable, IMO. But do you need to start warning employees at 120 days? 90 days? 60 days?

[gwbas1c]

It's not just to keep the employees. Telling an investor "I only have 1 week's worth of paychecks" is a recipe to loose control of a startup.