Pay Dirt is Slate’s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Lillian, Athena, and Elizabeth here. (It’s anonymous!)
Dear Pay Dirt,
My husband has been working on a startup since last December. It’s in an industry that has taken a huge downturn since right after he started. They have not secured any funding. They can’t afford to complete the next very important step because they are out of money. He has had two business partners in this, one being his very close friend. This friend is the main partner and just accepted a full-time job and is giving up on the startup. The other partner has seen the writing on the wall and only works a few hours a week on the startup now. My husband is still holding on….