That is what I tell people. They understand that as companies run out of money all the time. The important thing is that in my experience people take it at face value.

What I don’t do is air the dirty laundry about how the company got into that position in the first place.

Maybe a few years down the line I’ll tell people about it over beers as we are exchanging war stories. However it is not some that you need to mention while looking for another job.

The founder might have gone "full retard and psycho", but that is something you can keep between you and your friends/family, not your future employer.

Employers hire people all the time who are on the job market because their previous employer went out of business or had layoffs. It doesn't make the employee bad. Companies go out of business all the time, it is life.

The interviewer will want to know that you were not fired, and were in fact laid off (which is basically what happened to you, when a company goes belly up, all of its' employees are essentially laid off).

The interviewer might ask why the company went bankrupt if you are applying for a position where you were in a responsibility to generate revenue (CEO, COO, Salesman, etc). But will probably not dig any deeper if you are any other type of employee (like a software developer for example).

If they do dig deeper about the company, just be honest to a point. Tell them that your burn rate was too high for sales and the company couldn't land contracts needed before the money dried up. There is no value in adding that the founder was a dumbass, even if they were.

One valuable point you can throw in that will make you look good is that you were kept until the very end. I would mention that. You were so essential, important, good at your job, that your previous employer held onto you until the very end. Even as the burn rate was too high and the company could have fired you to save money, they didn't. They needed you until the company was literally gone. That shows lots of value to future employers in how indispensable you were at your previous job.

In fact for anyone who is interviewing, one important piece of advice is to never be critical about past employers during an interview. I have interviewed people who say their reason for leaving their last 5 jobs was all for "personal differences with their manager". Well if you haven't gotten along with your last 5 managers, what faith can I have that you can work with me or your new manager? Don't blame other people, it really makes you look bad.

As for letting your startup founders know why you're leaving - it really depends on your relationship with them but i would got for a professional - "i'd like to expole other opportunities and i wish you all the very best!"

Unless they had a position in the C suite, that can probably be shortened to "Company went bankrupt" with zero further explanation volunteered. Though it helps to think things through ahead of time and figure out how to address any questions that may come up.

The most PC thing to say would be along the lines of "Starting a new business is always a gamble and lots of new businesses simply don't succeed."

I would say something like:

> They (the startup) had problems with raising capital and expanded too fast and our founder seem to lack the dedication to run the the business and things fell apart despite my best efforts.

That is perfectly acceptable.

> They (the startup) had problems with raising capital and expanded too fast. Things fell apart, despite my best efforts.

That doesn’t disparage anyone. Even if you want to, it can make you look bad, and petty. One of the first thoughts that enters many people’s minds is “will they disparage me if/when I fuck up?”

It’s all about how you say it. :)

Plainly saying they went bankrupt is probably enough detail for most interviewers. It's blunt and direct, yet vague enough to be somewhat diplomatic. I certainly wouldn't feel ashamed about it. At the company level, bankruptcy of a startup is actually the expected outcome, statistically speaking. Shouldn't raise any eyebrows. And at the personal level, you even tried to confront them about the burn rate, so you shouldn't have any personal shame about it.

If somebody really presses you hard for why you thought the company failed, just tell them what you told us, and qualify it as your own opinion: "I think they probably burned too much money scaling the team before owning the product market fit." Sounds like a reasonably intelligent analysis of what happened (though personally I might question the use of the word "owning" just stylistically speaking... maybe "finding" instead?).

You can make yourself look good here, or bad. If you're capable of formulating a blame-free, diplomatic, equanimous (is that a word? I mean even-tempered/calm/composed/having equanimity), intelligent, big-picture analysis of why things went wrong, that makes you look good. If all you can manage are self-centered, immature, emotional hissy-fits about perceived slights that were of no particular consequence to anyone but you (small-picture), that makes you look bad. Getting into the character flaws, dishonesty and/or detailed mistakes of your management, is territory you want to avoid in an interview because it tends to torpedo your chances instantly. That's the reason the conventional wisdom is never to "badmouth" previous employers, PERIOD. I would obviously refine that somewhat, as detailed above. Analysis OK, gossipy shit-talk bad.

The person you're talking to is evaluating you, not your previous employer. If they see before them someone with complaints, they'll assume you're just a complainer, not someone with a legitimate complaint. Likewise if they see before them someone from a bankrupt company who has a calm analytical big-picture outlook, is a bit business-savvy, and has the company's best interests at heart, they'll see it as a great opportunity for them.

Career advice: never bad mouth a former employer. Consider the perspective of the person sitting across the table from you. Would you want to hire someone who is negative?

Another piece of career advice: saying someone went 'retard' is not really appropriate.

If it's the latter, telling prospective employers that the company went bankrupt and potentially mentioning that they couldn't secure another round of funding should be more than enough.

If it's the former, it's trickier, especially if the company actually pulls through.

Either way I'd tone down the analysis - as a sometimes hiring manager I might be interested in your analysis that the company burned too much money, but not so much in the "in-depth" analysis of the founder's behaviour.

BTW, I've had to close down a company before because it went bankrupt. I have the utmost sympathy for the founder who spent the last couple of grand on weed.

It implies there's a runway.

It's normal for startups to run out of capital.

Focus on technical aspects and cultural stuff that was functional. Like slack / github reviews / trips / etc.

It's okay to say if there were snacks / coffee machines you didn't like / local restaurants in delivery range weren't good. Those are fair game. Snacks imply you stay around and code :)

If interviewing for an employer not familiar with startups roles lasting <three years, let them know the experimental nature of the space. Founders move on/vc capital dries up because the market gets saturated (Imagine raising for a rideshare / delivery up in 2010 vs 2019)

We failed to find a product-market fit.

I would literally say nothing else. Anything else you say might be taken negatively. Wait for a question and respond to it, if it even comes up. It probably won’t.

"I've become concerned about the sustainability/prospects of the company" is fine.

* what you learned about the needs of the market

* how you adjusted the product to match the market

* what technical challenges you overcame

* how you adapted the product to handle a pivot

* dealing with not enough resources

Everything except the cofounders. Your opinion about what they did.

It is unhelpful to talk about the drama in this startup.

If anyone asks about why you are leaving - the short answer is the best one: product-market fit was not present. Do not be tempted to invite further questions. No matter what those questions are not positive for you.

Q. Why did you leave?

"The startup ran out of money."

Q. Was that you fault?

"I had no financial responsibilities in the company."

Now, if you did, that gets tougher...

I lost confidence in the businesses ability to succeed, despite all my efforts to help it grow. Further questions would hopefully allow you provide examples of what an excellent employee you were.

> I noticed our burn rate was higher than normal

Yeah I bet it was..

This is not only unprofessional, but straight up offensive. If your demeanor is even close to similar in conversations with other peers or prospective employers, you will have a very difficult time being taken seriously.

Anybody who has the slightest understanding of startups knows the majority of them cease to exist within a few years of founding. There is no complex explanation needed beyond "the startup I was at closed its doors".

I agree with your advice about how to behave in professional settings. It's worth pointing out though that 'full retard' is a decade-old meme from Tropic Thunder. It's widely used in Internet culture, and while mildly off-color for HN, isn't something to draw broad conclusions from. Here's the scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6WHBO_Qc-Q

The longer answer is the nature of your post makes me think you might have some self work to do, which could be more helpful to your future prospects than the fairly simple issue you're asking about. I don't know you, but using the terms "psycho" vs especially "retard" to describe people in public makes me think you should think hard about your communications patterns and your internal mindset. And while being inside a failing company is stressful, to the outside world, it's not a big deal. Don't bring that negativity with you when you leave the company.

When the HR representative called me later to offer me the job I declined citing the inappropriate behavior of the interviewer and I was told that he was being dealt with and perhaps taking a LOA. I still declined.

I feel the advice you gave the OP is spot on.

Edit: clarifications

Crap.... didn’t read past the title.