A few years ago, I left a prestigious PhD program to cofound a web startup as cofounder&#x2F;CTO. Only two of us were all-in. I largely built our two products and did marketing, pitching, weekly A&#x2F;B, user testing, etc. I was critical to our growth and VC raise.<p>I drained my savings to work there (we both agreed to a minimal stipend), believing I had about equal equity. However, I was misled. My cofounder held &gt;80% of the company.<p>1) Nine months in, I discovered I was vesting only &lt;0.4%&#x2F;year. The &quot;total shares&quot; in my contract were misleadingly only a fraction of the total issued. I confronted my cofounder, who I had trusted with the legal. He promised to fix it but was insincere and just gave excuses (he idolized Zuckerberg). So, I quit after one year total.<p>2) Months later, he raised VC funding by saying I was just a hired contractor. When VCs saw &#x27;CTO&#x27; on my website, my cofounder demanded that I remove it ... even though I was the CTO.<p>3) He then forgot to repurchase my shares, allowing my equity to vest. He demanded 3&#x2F;4 of it back, trying to leave me &lt;0.4% pre-funding. If I didn&#x27;t agree to a very low valuation, I was told they would &quot;tarnish [my] name in the entrepreneur community&quot;, framing me as a greedy undeserving contractor.<p>Feeling I had to stop them taking away my CTO title, equity, and reputation, I hired a lawyer on contingency and sued. However, by then they were almost bankrupt and were firesaled. My cofounder then started a new company.<p>I am concerned that he continues to badmouth me. In a postmortem, he falsely claims he was the sole founder. In a recent YouTube video, he falsely says I arbitrarily left and warns about &quot;bad people&quot;.<p>On a VC&#x27;s advice, I removed my affiliation entirely. But, this lends him credibility. I am proud of the successful products I built. I want to share why I left my PhD.<p>Should I put this on my resume? How can I respond, when he&#x27;s been lying about me and my role for years? I&#x27;d appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Ask HN: Advice on unethical cofounder?