alt Hacker NewsWorked in the SF tech scene since 2010, and so many founders who I found through YC/HN and AngelList failed to pay me over the years.
Often paid late, but FIVE times, I never got paid at all, one time it was several thousands over the course of months and I almost pursued it in court, but in the end I took the L.
It's always these incubator types, they're the absolute worst clients. They have the cash in the bank too, they often just forget or feel entitled and don't want to back down.
NEVER work for a YC founder.
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> NEVER work for a YC founder.
I would generalize this to "don't work for someone whose ability to pay is based on a high-risk gamble".
There are certainly shady people who can pay but don't because they are greedy avaricious bastards. But there are also plenty of people who would like to pay but whose business venture fails and with it goes their funds.
In the author's story, they probably should have concluded fairly early on that a team that wildly incompetent was also unlikely to produce a product that satisfies their client. And if the client doesn't pay, no one gets paid.
I'd say it's almost something of a rite of passage to get taken advantage of if you're young and working in tech startups. Usually this is in the form of abysmally low pay, along with "Sweat Equity":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_equity
Of course, the startup doesn't go anywhere, and your sweat equity never materializes, so you're left with just the pitiful pay.
I went through this in my late teens/early 20's, along with many friends.