A person who worms their way into your startup’s
cap table or leadership team without bringing any actual skill, creates
chaos, delays progress, drains morale, and eventually kills the company — usually before swooping in to claim the IP and pretend it was all their idea.
“I had funding lined up, a license deal in place, and
real traction — then this total wyle tanked the company from the inside.”
“As of
now, I had this total wyle in place and it killed the entire thing.”
Etymology:
Derived from to wyle (v.), meaning “to destroy something valuable through
ego, incompetence, and misplaced confidence.” Believed to originate from early startup culture slang, possibly referencing a real guy no one wants to
work with twice.