[0x5a177]

Thanks for your comment trizk. I think you capture what I mostly feel in my gut. I really do feel like the CEO really believes in the company to a fault. His gift and curse seems to be that of a hyper-visionary; what he sees in the company doesn't jive with my reality of the company. He has expressed remorse for the situation, but at this point he's lost my trust; I now read his remorse as mere bluffing. Not that I believe he was out to maliciously defraud, I just see this as the outcome of poor judgment and incompetence.

You are right, I did assume risk in joining the startup. That was not apparent to me at the time because it was not really communicated, but now I know. Looking back, I see a lot of "I should have known" moments. The lesson is that one should not look to the leaders of the company to look out for their interest.

[pm]

It's likely the founder is a visionary without a pragmatic streak. Conferences and iPhones is what you give your developers when you're too optimistic about future business.

The founder is unlikely to be aware of his poor judgement. I know this, because I've made the same mistake. Tempering vision wih pragmatism is hard, especially if you achieve early success.

If your founder doesn't admit fault and put in a solid plan to turn the business around, leave.