[jimhi]

I’ve been through YC twice now and have had this happen to me before in different ways and heard many stories firsthand. Some people just seem to drop whatever mask they had as soon as they see one ounce of success.

There is even one case of a yc company where the cofounder went off and made a complete clone of the company a year later. Then an intern of that new company went off and made a third clone within a year. I just checked and all 3 are dominating the market and still running.

For my own story, I partly blame myself as the signs of this type of person are pretty obvious in retrospect. I was able to do much more with another company 6 years later while my cofounder ran an mvp I built with 10 customers I got with millions of funding right into the ground.

Good for this guy on finding out and acting quickly. It would have been so much worse with millions of dollars on the line. He has a good attitude, I hope he realizes he could start a similar company if need be or approach a competitor.

[amvalo]

> the signs of this type of person are pretty obvious in retrospect

What are the signs?

[jimhi]

Nothing that isn't obvious. Maybe they aren't pleasant to be around. Maybe they actually drove customers and an employee away. Maybe they are condescending. Maybe they talk a lot and don't actually get work done.

In short, they're an asshole.

If you have a bad detector for these type of things (like I did) ask your friends. Every single one them knew before I did.