The software on Hacker News is telling me that my comment is too long, so I will have to break it into 2 comments.

Here is part #1:

I do not know Josh Weinstein and for all I know he is a really great guy, and very trustworthy. None of my remarks here should be regarded as aimed at Josh.

However, I am a computer programmer who has worked with a lot of inexperienced entrepreneurs. In the style of the movie Rashamon, I feel like I could write something like Josh's post, where the same events happen yet they have a completely different meaning when told from a different point of view. Certainly, I've had conversations that sort of resemble what Josh describes, and I could pick out the various bits that I, too, would mark as "Red Flags", but for me the red flags concerned the entrepreneur that I was working with.

Again, these comments are not about Josh. But I feel like I've often played a role similar to that played by the developer he describes. And I've backed out of projects at the last minute, just like this developer did. I will here try describe what some of these discussions have felt like on my end.

Week #1:

Entrepreneur: I'm really excited to have you as part of this project!

Me: I'm really excited to be a part of this project!

Entrepreneur: Tracking which ads get clicks in videos is going to be huge!

Me: I think it will change things in a disruptive way and it will be exciting for independent content producers.

Entrepreneur: Exactly, we are going to empower them with information so they know exactly what they can charge!

Me: You understand that this project is too large for me to tackle alone?

Entrepreneur: Of course! That's why I'm putting together a team with diverse talents.

Me: Great! Who else do you have on board?

Entrepreneur: I've been talking to a guy in Britain who is really excited about this. Also a guy in Romania. And I've got a friend, Tom, from my home town who is really into this.

Me: Well, if they are all good, then, yes, a team of 4 programmers would be perfect to get this started.

Entrepreneur: Of course. I mean, just to ramp up. We'll hire more later.

Me: And all of these people are willing to work just for equity? None of these people need money?

Entrepreneur: Everyone is excited to be part of this!

Me: Hmm, okay. Well, I'll be free in 2 weeks and I look forward to ramping up the operation then. How about we do a big Skype call with the whole team at that time?

Entrepreneur: Sounds good!

2 weeks later:

Me: Okay, I'm free now. Are we ready to do the big Skype call?

Entrepreneur: Sure! Tom has worked out the whole marketing plan! He's going to describe it to us!

Me: Marketing plan? Tom is in charge of marketing?

Entrepreneur: Of course! That's what he studied in school!

Me: Oh, my bad. For some reason I thought he was a computer programmer.

Entrepreneur: No, no, he's our CMO. He and I have been working night and day to work out the details.

Me: Okay, I guess it would be good to hear how we might pitch this once its built. Are the other 2 programmers ready to Skype?

Entrepreneur: Oh, yeah, about them, the guy in England got a job at Goldman Sachs, and the guy in Romania won't be free for another month.

Me: What??? Damn, that is a setback.

Entrepreneur: No, no, it's good!

Me: What do you mean good?

Entrepreneur: It gives us more time to get the other details right!!!

Me: But what else matters if we don't have any code?

Entrepreneur: That's where you come in! You can write the code!

Me: But I already told you this project is way too big for one programmer to handle!!!

Entrepreneur: Don't worry, I've got another guy, Bill, who is still in school but has promised he can give us 20 hours a week.

Me: 20 hours a week on top of full time school? Is that realistic?

Entrepreneur: This guy is amazing! He wrote his first complete software app back when he was just 4 years old! He knew Basic before he knew English!

Me: Uh, okay. Well, look, if he can pull it off, then that is great. Is Tom ready with the marketing pitch?

Entrepreneur: Tom, are you ready?

Tom: Sure! Well, for starters, after a lot of discussion, we came up with a name: VisionClaus! Because we offer people a vision, and we are giving away our vision like we are Santa Claus.

Me: Uh, um, how did you come up with that name?

Tom: Well, at first we were thinking of having the word "video" in our name, but then we decided that was too limiting.

Entrepreneur: Yeah, way too limiting.

Tom: So then we asked ourselves, what are we really about? And we realized we are about vision.

Entrepreneur: Yeah, exactly, all about vision.

Tom: And vision has a double meaning, of course, because you have to have vision, as in sight, to see video, but we also offer vision of a higher kind.

Entrepreneur: Yeah, much higher. We've very high.

Tom: We offer a vision of the future.

Entrepreneur: Exactly. We don't give a damn about the present. We're all about the future.

Tom: But also, we have certain core values that we hold to be important.

Entrepreneur: This is the part that means the most to me.

Tom: Above all, we are generous. We want to help people.

Entrepreneur: I find this so moving, at an emotional level, to think about how many people we are going to help. I almost want to cry.

Tom: And who else is generous? Well, Santa Claus is generous.

Entrepreneur: Based on a Christian saint.

Tom: So we realized VisionClaus was the best name for us.

Entrepreneur: And, surprisingly, the domain was still available.

Me: Um, uh, um, okaaaaaaaay. Well, look, that's a cool name and all, but in the short term, the most important thing we can do is write some code. So I think we need to focus on that for awhile.

Entrepreneur: Don't worry! You'll have a lot of help soon! Just start writing code now!

Me: Okay, give me a few weeks and I'll try to come up with prototype.

4 weeks later:

Me: Well, it's taken a lot of hacking but I think I got us a video player that handles diverse media types and tracks clicks.

Entrepreneur: Is that all it can do?

Me: Well, I've been working part-time. Where is that other programmer?

Entrepreneur: He is busy with school. But don't worry! I've got another guy in India who really wants to help us! But I think we need to make this software more exciting!

Me: What do you have in mind?

Entrepreneur: Can you track eyeballs?

Tom: Yes, we need eyeball information.

Me: What do you mean?

Entrepreneur: Like, where are people looking on screen? What interests them?

Me: Uh, well, with specialized equipment, in a lab, we could track eyeballs and generate a heat map.

Entrepreneur: No, I mean, when folks are at home and they watch our videos.

Me: What are you talking about? Obviously we can't track what people look at when they are at home, their home computers don't track eyeball movements.

Entrepreneur: Oh, well, that is disappointing. There is no equipment that can do this?

Me: Yes, there is equipment that can track eyeballs, but no, most folks don't have it at home. Or do you mean you want to mail them the equipment? Where would we get the money for that?

Entrepreneur: Then it's possible? Really? Don't worry about the money! We can raise the money!

Me: Wait a minute, if you can raise that kind of money then maybe you can start paying me something!

Entrepreneur: Oh, well, we can't raise that much. Anyway, we gave you significant, very significant equity in this company!

Me: You gave me 2%, which I appreciate, but it was with the understanding that you'd start paying me once you had some money.

Entrepreneur: And we will! Just hang in their a little longer! Keep writing code! Tom and I are almost done with our investor pitch!

Me: Tom is helping with the investor pitch?

Entrepreneur: Of course! He's our CIOO!

Me: What the hell is a CIOO?

Entrepreneur: Chief Investor Outreach Officer!

Me: Uh, okay.

Entrepreneur: Let's meet in 2 weeks and we'll show you our pitch!

Me: Okay.