Table 2.
Themes and sample quotes of advice-seeking
| Post category | Post subcategory | Sample post title | Sample quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advice-seeking | Interpersonal conflict | Co-founder is harassing me | [My co-founder has] started harassing me by making inappropriate comments […] Being a small startup, there’s no HR to go to for help […]Should I just walk away from this startup and try to start over on my own? |
| Our “CEO” secretly invested the last 30% of our funding in crypto… | “[Our CEO] was the only person with access to the accounts and [over] half our funding has been squandered at this point.” | ||
| CEO is lying to potential clients and investors about our number of paid users. And it’s in writing | Our CEO is lying to potential clients/investors about our number of paid users. […] Is he violating any laws or is this just a shady business practice? Looking for some feedback or advice | ||
| Coder cheated: Can I trust him anymore? | Need your advice on this…I found out [the developer] installed a cheat application to manipulate the screen tracking tool. […] I don’t trust him […] How do you approach a scenario like that? | ||
| Personal development | Is it foolish to start a startup if you have almost no savings? | I am about to graduate from college and work on this full-time. […] My personal savings are close to nothing. My parents are quite poor and won’t be able to support me financially. […] Do you think it is a foolish and a dangerous choice? Or is there a potential that this may work? | |
| I hate talking to customers. Any tips to get over it? | I’m an introvert and a perfectionist and it’s impacting my businesses. […]Any tips for how to engage or get feedback without feeling embarrassed or stupid? | ||
| Leaving my cushy corporate job for a startup? | “Currently stuck weighing the two options in my head. […] Not sure what to do here. Any input or personal experience with something similar is welcome!” | ||
| How do I put my failed startup on my resume? | After six months I have $0 revenue, 0 employees, and I’m having a hard time figuring out how to summarize my experience in a couple of bullet points. Especially since it feels like I have accomplished nothing. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks | ||
| Strategy advice | How do you successfully manage a remote team? | What tools, strategies, advice do you recommend for successful remote teams? Best hiring practices? Is there anything you should watch out for or avoid? | |
| Why do engineers keep declining our offer after talking to their wives? | As soon as [our candidates] talked to their wives they told us they had to decline. So my question is, why do the wives keep telling our potential engineers no? Is it because we are both women? | ||
| I’m a newly-anointed CEO of a small company with 900 K ARR. I own ~ 10%. How much should I pay myself? | What is a fair total number to pay myself? * Knowing that I am incentivized by performance-based pay, how should it be structured? | ||
| If “You don’t need to go to school to become an entrepreneur” where do you learn business finance? | Sure you can hire accountants, lawyers, and bring in friends but how do you know that your lawyer is giving you good advice and that your accountant isn’t taking advantage of you if you truly know nothing about such things? |