Ask HN: Difference of implication between co-founders

7 points by _pygv 8y ago ↗ HN

I'm about to create a startup. I happen to be lucky that some of my coder/phd friends are willing to join me.

We agree on almost everything (vision, equity, responsibilities)

However, there is one issue where we cannot come to an agreement: how to manage a difference of implication between the co-founders. I have no girlfriend/family and very little responsibilities, so I can and expect to put all of my time into this venture (minus sleep, eating and exercice). However, one of the founders has a family and the responsibilities that come with it, so the effort he can put in is more limited. The french 35h/week is ok for him, he can maybe do more sometimes, but with no guarantee.

My question: how can I manage the likely difference of implication, when it comes to equity/compensation and the implicit contract we have between each other.

I see a few possibilities:

- Tolerate it: each co-founder has equal equity and is expected to work 35h/week. More effort is not rewarded. I suspect this will be highly demotivating for high performers.

- Ban it: set a minimum of 50 or 60h/week, and refuse anyone who cannot pull it off. I am good friends with all my co-founders, so I don't like the idea of them not joining because they have a family. Besides, most of us will start a family at some point.

- Measure and scale: find some way of measuring implication and reward everyone including co-founders proportional to it. This introduces the problem having to measure, estimate or self-report the implication of each one.

Thoughts?

1 comment

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raarts 8y ago ↗

Let me ask you another question: are you all equally capable and productive? Producing the same value for the company, given putting in the same hours? I bet you aren't. How to compensate for that?

Also working more than 8 hours a day will not make you more productive, especially over a longer period of time.

Also, you'll never get a family if you're working every free hour of the day.

Having good chemistry between founders is very important, more important than who's putting in a few more hours.

My advice: base everything on a normal work week, everything over that is voluntary. Family is the thing you work for, so that's always more important.