Only if they are being honest. Offer this as a 12 month temp contract with possibility of continuation. Offering a role as permanent but with unvoiced intent to let go, that's dishonest. Being honest is always a responsibility.
It's totally possible to slog through a chapter of a maths text and feel like we got it. But it turns out our 'understanding' was a facade. We can't apply the concepts in a new situation. Exposing ourselves to feedback via problem sets reveals this.
Sad to say it, but a bunch of code from a failed startup is probably nearly valueless without context. I think that motivates an answer based on extracting value from it combined with the context on it that a founder has.