softwarefounder

There are many pieces of advice that can be said, but what I would say is this:

Don't bottle all of this in; it'll only build resentment.

Be humble, speak your mind appropriately and professionally, and after you've done so, lean on the tech lead and manager for direction.

My first startup was founded with a non-technical co-founder; they had no vast experience in what we were founding, but was a good salesman.

In the end, they were useless, and I walked away from the company.

Make sure everything is in writing, and if you're a technical co-founder, make sure your co-founder is someone you can respect.

Thank you for the clarification/reasoning.

Some honest feedback. That's a pretty low salary, not made-up for by the lack of equity.

Yes to those last couple of lines.

I started to pursue a Masters of Divinity, but quickly dropped out as I came to terms that my motivation was primarily to "have the upper-hand" in conversations. (Not to mention I can't set aside 6 years of my life for school right now).

Do you value money more, or "kudos" from the internet more?

Somewhere there lies your answer.

Be transparent with the company.

Tell them what you expected vs. what you got and work it out.

Also understand that if the company comes under heat, the VP has "protected" him/herself by trying to reconcile it.

Would recommend LLC for a sole-founder, beginning startup. (LLC will _help_ protect your personal liability and being sued directly as an individual).

Corporations are needed/good when/if you get investors, and need board members, and stock options, etc.

(Not legal advice, take with a grain of salt).

Sounds like a nightmare if you ever have to go under SOC2.

As a startup with 2 engineers, yes, we use Auth0 and love that it handles everything for us at the moment.

Especially since we have to handle b2b clients who have their own SSO, etc.

"While money corrupts on an individual level, it purifies on an institutional level."

Well said.

Yes. I believe you shouldn't delete tests.

After all, one of the best reasons for tests is to be able to refactor code confidently.

Yep - the hilarious thing is even the most Agile/Sprint heavy consulting companies usually have to succumb to some Waterfall concept in order to provide an estimate or meet a fixed bid.