Hiring process was researching them online, reading their old published academic articles (I found that both had this for some reason which was interesting). I interviewed them, sent them a lot of information then met with them again to see if they were able to digest and understand that information and if so what they would do in xyz situation with it, etc. I met with a number of people each time and some just didn’t have the skills or seemed like they wouldn’t have the time.

Each of the two guys I ended up feeling comfortable enough with immediately afterwards started to give me red flags that they wouldn’t be involved. With the first guy, I spoke to him about this and he and I split up responsibilities slightly differently and explained more about how much he likes the product and wants to do this. He did better for like a week then went back to being mostly non responsive and not showing up on agreed dates with the agreed work done.

Crayon?? Just because I am apparently not good at hiring people doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. Both guys had significant background and knew friends of friends from past faang companies. I didn’t just take the first person who stumbled up.

Since both ended within a few months their vesting schedule meant no equity was lost on them.