Ask HN: Why did your startup fail and what did you learn?
Q: Why did your startup fail?<p>A: Brilliant beloved and trusting visionary founder just didn&#x27;t have a functioning crazy person detector (which was fortunately why he hired me), but he also unfortunately hired a self-proclaimed &quot;<i>Serial Hacktreprenuer</i>&quot; (I shit you not) as a &quot;game finance expert&quot;, who failed to do his job raising money, and whose bizarre behavior and &quot;volatile and erratic work habits&quot; led to battling lawsuits and the failure of the company, who claimed the founder &quot;tried to push him out of the company and committed an &quot;atrocity&quot; by trying to take away&quot; his equity, who called the dispute a &quot;genocide&quot;, and who then threatened to publish an &quot;exposé documentary&quot; by tweeting: “Looking for PR professionals to build awareness for “THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT WILL”, an exposé documentary, releasing on YouTube 6&#x2F;2012.”<p>But they eventually settled the lawsuits, and Will issued a statement officially thanking him for his &quot;tenacious execution&quot; of the company (<i>insert capital punishment joke here</i>), so he never followed through on that threat.<p>Q: What did you learn?<p>A: I learned to program iOS and Unity3D, and to stay out of company politics, and to listen to my bullshit detector.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;venturebeat.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;11&#x2F;16&#x2F;will-wright-hivemind&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;venturebeat.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;11&#x2F;16&#x2F;will-wright-hivemind&#x2F;</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;venturebeat.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;06&#x2F;03&#x2F;game-pioneer-will-wrights-personal-gaming-startup-falls-apart-in-litigation-exclusive&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;venturebeat.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;06&#x2F;03&#x2F;game-pioneer-will-wrights...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;venturebeat.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;11&#x2F;01&#x2F;simcity-pioneer-will-wright-settles-game-startup-hive-mind-lawsuit&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;venturebeat.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;11&#x2F;01&#x2F;simcity-pioneer-will-wrig...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gamingsession.taterunino.net&#x2F;2012&#x2F;06&#x2F;03&#x2F;will-wrights-hivemind-tied-up-in-atrocity-and-genocide-legal-battle&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gamingsession.taterunino.net&#x2F;2012&#x2F;06&#x2F;03&#x2F;will-wrights-...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;HiveMind" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;HiveMind</a>