Researcher gets back at startup bro by helping make a better product and selling it to the competition: 'Now he's going out of business'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
May 18, 2024 8:00 AM EDT

It's easy to make enemies with startup bros. They're not exactly the most likable bunch of individuals. 

This so-called "CEO" spent way more energy stirring the pot with competitors than running an actual company, and it wound up biting him on the behind in the end. First, he lost a tech competition to an academic researcher and started sending a ton of mean-spirited messages. He even crashed the researcher's Zoom lecture to spam the comments. This was the final straw for the researcher, who decided to take the opportunity to check out this startup bro's subpar product.

The product was supposed to be a water filtration apparatus, but it did not take long for the researcher to perfect the product and come up with a far better system. Rather than help the startup bro out, he decided to sell his new product to the CEO's biggest competitor. You can imagine what happened to the startup bro's business after that.

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. For more stories of workplace drama, check out this post about workers and that one colleague everyone dislikes.

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  • 01
    A startup bro sent me a lot of hmail so I improved his product and sold it to his competitor. Now he's going out of business.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 02
    I'm an academic researcher. I won this tech competition last year and started getting hate mail from a startup bro from my country who was probably just jealous because his team hadn't even made it to the finals of the same competition three years ago (just my guess). He was now the CEO of a growing startup.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 03
    The content of the h☐ mail was usually just insults mixed with explaining that I wasn't really good in my field and didn't deserve any acclaim. It hit the fan when he actually made the effort to attend a Zoom lecture of mine to hurl insults in the comments. That was embarrassing.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 04
    I wanted revenge in a way that would prove my merit as well. I ordered his company's product (a special water filtration apparatus) and made some neat improvements to it which made it much cheaper. I found one of his close competitors who operates in the same region,
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 05
    and gave the product to them in exchange for a payment and an advisory position. This was also a small company that was neck-and- neck with the dude who was ha me.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 06
    It's been one year and the competitor has almost fully dominated the market. I haven't announced my affiliation with the competitor yet but I'm about to. I wish I can see his reaction live when he finds out I helped the competitor.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 07
    save_the_bees_knees. 6 hr. ago Nice! But seriously how do people have the energy to actively harass strangers. I barely have the energy to get out of bed most days.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 08
    FairyPenguinStKilda 8 hr. ago Playing 4 D chess when the other person is still learning the colours in checkers. Well done
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 09
    walnut_creek 5 hr. ago Your New company should make an offer to buy the adversary at a liquidation price. Only announce your affiliation AFTER he agrees to sell. Keep the adversary employed at the new company in some job that you control- "Sam! My pencils need sharpening and my keyboard is dusty!"
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 10
    4_Legged_Baby - 8 hr. ago My respects, you did your diligence and check-mate. You're playing chess while they are lagging in checkers.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 11
    HappySparklyUnicorn. 8 hr. ago I have to ask this doesn't violate any of their patents does it?
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 12
    Salahuddin Ayyubi_1 OP. 8 hr. ago The process it open- source. I removed and replaced the proprietary part. Was very careful about it.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 13
    LavaPoppyJax · 6 hr. ago I'd say it's quite a bit more than petty revenge.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 14
    sam_richter 3 hr. ago You might consider not announcing it. There is nothing positive that you can gain other than feeling good. There is, however, potential negatives including continued harassment or even a lawsuit (which it sounds like he would lose but defending yourself could cost a lot of money and take a huge amount of time). If it were me, I would secretly enjoy my revenge every time I deposited a check and other than sharing with a couple of close friends - leave it at that.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 15
    t4b4rn4ck 3 hr. ago hilarious but that guy sounds completely unhinged, i wouldnt want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 16
    bboru2000 3 hr. ago Fantastic revenge! I'd be a little cautious making any public announcements over it, though. If he was unhinged enough to harass you while trying to run his own startup, I'd be concerned about him escalating his actions now that he has a lot more free time.
    via u/Salahuddin_Ayyubi_1
  • 17
    "I improved his product and sold it to his competitor"
    via Proxyclick Visitor Management System

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workplace-stories startup work stories toxic-workplace petty-revenge-reddit job work petty revenge reddit thread Reddit company toxic-work-environment
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