I think it's hard for anyone to tell the reason why he was fired. But 11 months is just suspicious. They didn't realize he wasn't a good fit sooner? Fire him sooner, or wait a month so he vests to do the right thing.

Sounds like they used a young guy to do their dirty work while they were small, and once they got funding and didn't need someone who had rights to such a large portion of equity in the future, brought on people who would take less.

Pretty sketchy.