[josh2600]

This is a risk evaluation failure.

When you join a startup, when you think of startup statistics, you should think that the company you're joining has a 90% chance of failing and returning less than $0 (ergo wasting your time in addition to a lack of financial return). With this in mind, joining a startup is not for the faint of heart, and it's also not for those who exemplify hubris.

YCombinator is signal. Investing is signal. Intelligent cofounders are signal. They are not surefire guarantees of a great return on investment. Nothing really ever guarantees a return on investment.

It seems like basic vetting of a startup just didn't happen. Everyone has a linkedin, is it too much to ask that you do some googling to figure out the accomplishments of the people you're about to invest 10 years with? Yes, when you join a startup you should imagine what doing 10 years with that company could be like. If you can't see yourself there in 2 years, don't even bother (90th percentile advice).

Look. I'm all about Venture Capitalism, but you have to ask yourself. If there's no possible way that this business could do what they're trying to do without VC money and they're still on a seed stage, what is your risk? I would argue that your risk is almost incalculable (which is also true of your reward). When you trade security for potential, you can gain or lose liability in exchange for risk. Joining a YC startup is only marginally less likely to fail than joining a regular startup.

In short, every startup is a huge gamble and you have to play the game with that in mind. Your experience at a YC startup is no different than countless friends I've had over the years. Go and talk to anyone who has lived in the Valley for more than 10 years, we all know people exactly like you.

What happens from here on in matters greatly. Will you let the experience cannibalize your ambition or reinforce your drive? You don't need to join a startup to change the world, and you shouldn't let a failure like this destroy your dreams. If anything you've learned a ton of what not to do next time.

In short, be brave, be foolish and do. I applaud the writeup and hope that it becomes fuel for future endeavor.

[nonchalance]

"The numbers that were shared were not entirely true. It was kind of half-truth and part of the marketing pitch to VCs."

Do you consider that a due diligence failure on the employee's part or a misunderstanding regarding the general nature of numbers?

[greghinch]

If the startup is going to outright lie to anyone not on the inside, then there's not much you can do. But the onus is definitely on the prospective employee to press them for the facts, and recognize people for being shifty. The author is justifiably upset about the outcome, but hopefully this can be a learning experience and move on.

I have to say, as much as YC has a great rep, I was kind of shocked when I heard the sizes of their classes in recent years. When I participated in another accelerator last year, our class had 10 teams, and that seemed like a fairly good size in terms of the folks running program being able to keep on top of the startups involved. I have to imagine when you are running classes of 80 teams (though they temporarily scaled back recently to more like 50, it sounds like they are going to grow the number per session again soon), not only are some going to be duds, but some are going to be outright scammers.

[nknighthb]

If you start rattling off business numbers to someone with nothing more than a layman's understanding of business, finance, and/or the particular field the company is in, the numbers may indeed mislead, even as their true meaning would be absolutely clear to someone more clued in.

Without knowing exactly what was said (and what the actual situation of the company was), I can't credit the author's assertion that the numbers were "half-truth", especially in light of the misunderstanding and naïvety evidenced by the rest of his post.

[md224]

Agreed. To assume every YC startup is going to be a beautifully-operated dream company would be to fall prey to a seductive mythology. Tech startups are run by human beings, creatures that can be brilliant, passionate, and level-headed, but also vain, delusional, overconfident, and naive. The best you can do is know what you're getting into.