I was one of them! Joined on August 5, 2012, got 0.5% of equity (I think?), it all went to more-or-less zero monetarily. I don't think most of us really hold any grudges against Sahil here. It was a very fun place to work, and I met some of my closest friends and made some of my strongest professional connections there. It was net-very-positive to my life and career, and I think we were all adults when we were opting-in to the experience.
As for Sahil/Gumroad making money and growing. Meh. He's worked on it for 13 years and showing dedication beyond what I would have for most things. It's fine.
No-one cares if you fail and in the absence of unethical behavior, your identity and your company's identity are distinct. As a founder you think the world has its gaze on you and inflict enormous amounts of pressure on yourself. If things aren't going well, it's completely fine. If it's time to kill it, even better. Fail fast, fail often, and take care of yourself so you can run it again.
i worked with some sales folks once that had an extension that would pop-up fake imessages and emails from other customers about how much they loved the product.
I’m Tuhin, one of the co-founders of Baseten. Baseten is a realization of the product that we wish we had when we were trying to get value from trained models in previous jobs. I’m excited to see this on HN and will be around to answer any questions you have.
As for Sahil/Gumroad making money and growing. Meh. He's worked on it for 13 years and showing dedication beyond what I would have for most things. It's fine.