[tptacek]

I won't shut up about this, because I don't think most people can understand viscerally how much more valuable their time is than almost any other consideration until they've spent a lot of it already. People here obsess about equity stakes, but almost never about opportunity cost, which is what's really killing most of them.

Also? Working your ass off to save a shitty business relationship has a psychic cost. You do not have an unlimited reservoir of relationship energy to spend. If you want to keep doing startups, you need to guard your morale reserves. Wringing yourself out here won't just mess up your current startup (which seems fucked enough already); it can mess up your next one too.