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Ask HN: Should I stay on board?

11 points by castis ↗ HN
Recently, I was the lead developer on a project with a friend.

That friend has now taken the necessary steps to make it into a profitable company.

He's making great strides in his plan (which was the plan all along) and has come back to me with possibly good news. I'm beginning to get questions like what sort of hardware it will take to keep this thing going strong and what positions need to be filled and all that jazz.

I am very fast approaching territory that I have no clue about and tbh it's freaking me the hell out. Should I research the hell out what it would take to be someones boss or should I kind of step down and hope that I'm kept on board when someone who knows more than me steps up?

I know this is one of those Lead, Follow, or get out of the way situations and I'd like to lead but I have no idea what I'm doing.

And the only reason I'm asking HN instead of a psychiatrist or my parents is because I know this place has an extensive collection of people who have more than likely gone through the same thing hopefully.

12 comments

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noodle
what exactly is your official position with this project? co-founder? paid employee? etc..
castis
a friend came to me with an idea and i turned it into the first working prototype. unpaid but the work was definitely fun. i could be considered a co-founder but im just the guy who made it work.
noodle
i'd talk to your friend about this first, honestly. don't put the cart before the horse.

perhaps he considers it his business and considers you a friend who is doing him a favor before he hires someone serious. perhaps he's just tapping you for ideas/help and not planning on compensating you. etc..

define what your role is and what it will be as this project turns into a profitable company. THEN decide if you're ready/willing/able to fill that role.

yosho
I hope you had some sort of talk concerning equity and your piece of the pie.

Regarding the technical knowledge, no one knows everything right away. It's all about drive and determination, if you are generally smart, you can pick up most things over time.

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megamark16
What do you want to do/be for this company? If the company is heading in the direction of building a head count and there's an opportunity for being a leader, does that even interest you? If you want it, don't be afraid that you don't know how to do it yet, this could be the opportunity to grow as the company grows.
joshu
Scaling isn't necessarily that hard, especially depending on budget. Can you explain more?

Ideally nobody should be in a job that is completely comfortable.

lamby
> Ideally nobody should be in a job that is completely comfortable.

Because that means you've hired too many people?

thiele
I'd say, because you aren't stretching yourself and growing.
chipsy
Keep on with it. If you're starting at a business you have to be learning and experimenting to succeed at it - regardless of whether the topic's code, infrastructure, employees, sales, etc. No founder is perfect at everything, and some failure is inevitable, but if you don't even try, you'll just be left wondering what might have been.

If you and your friend are serious, have a big discussion where you work out the explicit roles and specialties you're each covering. "I don't know" is not something to hide. Where something is unknown, schedule time to research it and determine if the best way to proceed is "book learning," buying advice, hiring the skillset, sheer trial and error, or something else. As long as you keep trying to tackle the unknowns, the business will progress.

arthurdent
I'm in a similar-ish situation here.

I brought a friend onto an idea when it was in the very formative "barely an idea" stages. The initial idea was of the "good enough to try, but not enough to build an empire" variety.

He rapidly took the idea to a level where I think it might be an empire, but also a level where I can't really contribute. Its basically the idea done right, but more advanced than I can handle (he's a better mathematician and a better programmer than I) and I can't help but thing "well shit, maybe I should be just letting him do it on his own" (he can, and its not clear that having a second hand would be helpful (or worth it) in this venture).

I'm still sort of scared to have the conversation, but I've got to do it soon.

Anyone have any advice?

cmos
There is _always_ stuff to do. If he's doing hardcore stuff, then perhaps there's UI work or design work. What's going to happen when he's done? Is there a rollout plan?

If your gut's telling you to talk to him about it, don't let your lack of confidence get in the way of making it happen. He probably has been hesitant to ask for help on certain matters, afraid it would offend you. The real tragedy would be if you never talk about it.