HACKER Q&A
📣 throwaway01295

Join Existing Startup as a Founder?


There is a particular startup for which I am a perfect fit: it’s in a niche, non-software, industry I’ve worked in for many years and I can safely say I’m the only person in the world with extensive experience in the industry who also is a very capable software engineer. Furthermore, I am in the process of building an open source tool poised to fundamentally improve the way the industry works, and the startup is building a paid version. My tool is of course a threat to their business. Even if their tool becomes higher quality, the presence of a free option is not good for their bottom line.

So I think it makes sense to join them and either scrap my project or bring it to the company (not going to get into the specifics of which is a better option), but I think the situation warrants me being more than just an employee. I think it makes sense for me to receive a large chunk of equity. We could call this becoming another founder or not; I don’t really care about the title.

One other catch: they already have three founders. Four seems like a lot.

Does this seem like a reasonable proposal? Is adding a founder like this a common occurrence in startups? Any advice on how to approach the topic? Or any alternatives for someone in a position like this?

  👤 readonthegoapp Accepted Answer ✓
i think you're probably delusional, which is probably necessary for an entrepreneur.

but outside of that, it seems like you could just pitch them?

i mean, you open the dialogue, they're either interested in chatting or not, and go from there.

joining as an outsider seems a good way to get zucked.

but even as an insider you can get zucked.

trying to join as a founder seems weird.

i suspect they'll appreciate your opening a dialogue, and then they'll be happy to go on their way without you.

i think having open source/free competitors can be very good for a company's bottom line -- the free stuff helps create/build the market, and bigger companies want enterprise features, voila.

in any case, it always seems to be about trying to achieve some scale and then charging somebody for something, regardless of whether software is open source or 'free' or whatever else.

good luck 'fundamentally improving the way the industry works'

;-D

not hating -- just a little healthy skepticism. good luck!

👤 wizwit999
My 2c, To be frank, No this doesn't seem reasonable. You can compete with them and/or build your own business, or just go work for them.