[xq3000]

Unfotunately, this kind of situations are not all that uncommon. IMHO, there is a subset of people with those qualities that are drawn to startups. Take a “vision” or a “business” person with good social instincts and loosen their ethics and values and you will get yourself a little Machiavelli.

As I see it, you have a few moves: 1) Very gently distance yourself from that person until your relationship is strictly professional. Make sure they know as little possible about your personal life or work plans, projects, intentions, etc

2) Become more social and political yourself. It sounds like she’s been running the company and you just work there - you’d need to get your voice back. Cultivate your own direct 1:1 relationships with key employees, board members, and investors.

3) Try forming a subgroup within the company that is under your control and that can deliver some kind of independent and visible result. Do good work and make sure that more people know about it. But be very cautious about how you advertise those results

4) Figure out if anyone else is noticing her toxic behaviour. Your board and investors should be very interested in keeping the company culture healthy

5) Maybe there is a way to gently prompt a financial review by the board or investors?

If you do some of this for some time you should find yourself in a better position whether you decide to stay or leave