[fown10]

Let's look at the facts:

1.) Unbabel is a YC company that recently raised 1.5M

2.) Andreas is a contractor that was given a 3-month at-will contract, for a job that required him to move to Portugal from Sweden.

3.) He worked for 1 month and then was let go and given pay for 1.5 months.

4.) He managed to lose all his money that he made while working for Unbabel, due to a 4 month rental agreement that Unbabel helped him secure a week before Unbabel fired him.

I am not sure if the founders are psychopaths, but there are clearly psychopathic behaviors here. Here's an employee that put his trust into the company to move and sign a contract he couldn't understand, and the company did the following things:

1.) Could not even pay out 1.5 month of contract left (after raising 1.5M)

2.) Could not handle the rental situation

3.) Could not help this guy land on his feet

4.) Could not apologize to Andreas after the article has posted, or manage to help compensate

5.) Continues to answer with posts that try to emphasize how great it is to work for the company or work in Portugal

If this wasn't a YC company we would be alot harder on the company.

[ivraatiems]

I agree with all of your analysis here, save one nitpick: I don't think the founders are psychopaths. I think they're in a bubble. I think they genuinely believe they did the right thing, because (like I said elsewhere in this thread), they're simply not thinking about Andreas and they're resolutely refusing to see things from his perspective.

I'd challenge vasco_ to take a look at what this situation is like from Andreas' perspective, and then explain why an apology or greater assistance to him was unnecessary or impossible.

[wolfgke]

"I agree with all of your analysis here, save one nitpick: I don't think the founders are psychopaths. I think they're in a bubble. I think they genuinely believe they did the right thing, because (like I said elsewhere in this thread), they're simply not thinking about Andreas and they're resolutely refusing to see things from his perspective."

To quote Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy) - emphasis be me:

"Psychopathy (/saɪˈkɒpəθi/) (or sociopathy /ˈsoʊsiəˌpæθi/) is traditionally defined as a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior. It may also be defined as a continuous aspect of personality, representing scores on different personality dimensions found throughout the population in varying combinations."

[ivraatiems]

I think assuming someone is a psychopath is assuming the absolute worst about them in this context. I don't think it's really fair to anyone. There are plenty of other situations that result in diminished empathy and remorse, not all of them pathological in nature, and whether or not vasco_ is a psychopath doesn't affect the rightness or wrongness of his behavior from an objective standpoint.