the company is on vapors, and we can not afford salaries right now.
i think i am the least leveraged person, but that's because i planned for some extent for this, and didn't spend any money in the last 6 months. i didn't even visit family for christmas.
it's hard when you know someone with a family might loose their house if you quit, and that spooks the VCs.
The verbal promise was to full-fill back pay on this next round, and to cover previous unpaid taxes. I filled for an extension and I did not spend money on an accountant yet.
I don't really know how deep my tax risk is.
I'm not even sure If in the US I am allowed to collect unemployment this time around.
I negotiated for vesting common stock, rather than options, but it's within range of a large option grant.
I have always been referred to as an employee, not a co-founder, even though I have been advising the CEO for about a year before I was hired. I even introduced the two co-founders.
I am very emotionally invested, and have a large, but not substantial equity position.
Effectively I am 10-15k in debt on this venture and I could double that debt very easily in the next few months depending on how long it takes to find a desirable new role/ contract.
To sum it up, you think they will be understanding.
My biggest fear is that the CEO is way more leveraged than even I. I feel like focusing on other things openly, even open to the team, could mess-up the funding, even if he would really be able to close it.
A friend of mine is trying to help line up consulting work, but I am second guessing myself? Should I just stick with it? Am I just being a nervous nelly?
Or should I layout the blunt truth to them that I am getting way out of my risk tolerance. Even if I don't stick with the company I'd like to keep them as friends.
I've looked up if I can write off on my taxes lost wages, and that seems like a no-go. I have also thought about converting my lost wages to debt within the company as I am honest and pursue full time consulting work vs. maybe 20hours a week or something.
Again, I just don't know the best course of action. I believe in the product and the space, but I am not sure anymore that we are the team that is going to win this ground.