I don't understand this, people. They're YC funded, in the worst case they have how much now, 10k? Risk your reputation for a few hundred dollars, having a few thousand in the pocket, why?
Same here. I am not taking sides, but just for drama reasons I would always prefer having these things go away for a few hundred bucks than go trying to argue with the interwebs.
They didn't sign anything, and the "CEO" of any YC startup early enough to need to outsource product development isn't promising anything despite their words.
the "CEO" of any YC startup early enough to need to outsource product development isn't promising anything despite their words.
Well... Yes. Yes, they are.
There is no probation period when you start a business and become a legal officer of a company. If you want to be a CEO, you'd better act like it from 9am on day 1, because chances are you have the power to commit your business to any obligation it can legally undertake. Once you do, your business will be on the hook for any such commitments you make, forever. And depending on where you are, you might get away with failing to honour a commitment if you made an honest mistake and the business failed, but if you were just blatantly negligent about your responsibility to run the company properly then your corporate legal shield might not be as solid as you'd like either, leaving you on the hook personally as well.
I outsource my startup development heavily and I didn't bother signing anything either. Yes, I've lost a few hundred (probably even a couple of thousand) this way, paying for the job that went directly to the dumpster. It's a cost of doing business. And I didn't raise money this time, this is all my consulting revenue, I could have paid an income tax on it and put it in my pocket. But if you want to build a beautiful house there will be sawdust. These money is the sawdust.