Now that I am a founder I am particularly sensitive to a certain type of person I’ll call (for lack of a better term) a startup flake.
A startup flake does things like:
- Meet with a founder, ostensibly about a job with that founder’s company, but then tell them what you are really trying to do is find a job in venture capital.
- Respond to startup job postings because it seems like it would be cool to work at a startup, and then after interviewing say that you don’t think startups are really for you.
- Get excited about a startup, offer to help the founder, and then don’t follow through with what you promised. (i.e. Grinf*cking)
- Makes really ill-advised introductions to a company without asking the founder if they are useful, first.
I’m not saying we don’t all have a flake moment every now and then. In fact, you might not even have realized that you did something flakey in the past. I get it.
So I’ll forgive you once (or twice, even). But after that … flake!
