Hahaha, I've been in that position before. Was asked to join an exercise tracking startup. They decided to pivot to calorie counting and focus on users who only walk for exercise and do it once or twice a month. They also didn't like fixing bugs and building test harnesses and the like in many cases, thinking they often just helped a few people.
I did my job, but I sure as hell poured all my weekend and personal time into the exercise stuff and bug fixing. Really pissed off the CTO who took it personally that I was not working on his weight loss stuff in my personal time as well as my on the clock time. I think, to run a good company, you have to combine everyone's desires. Letting me work on my things in my time would have been the way to do that. Instead the managers just go ape shit over someone who doesn't fit into the homogenous culture they want.
I did my job, but I sure as hell poured all my weekend and personal time into the exercise stuff and bug fixing. Really pissed off the CTO who took it personally that I was not working on his weight loss stuff in my personal time as well as my on the clock time. I think, to run a good company, you have to combine everyone's desires. Letting me work on my things in my time would have been the way to do that. Instead the managers just go ape shit over someone who doesn't fit into the homogenous culture they want.