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How to get rid of my CTO?

3 points by yassine_taw ↗ HN
A friend of mine and I have been working on this project for a while now (3+ months), he built the roots of the product but he now can't work on it anymore because he has a job at a big bank. He offered to reevaluate the share of the projects to 90/10 instead of 50/50, basically giving away 40% of his shares to me.

The situation is that our product is only at the prototype stage and we still haven't found any accelerator/investment and are still some time ahead of being able to. I'd like to retain the full 100% of the project and avoid leaving him with 10 he asked, this is because I don't think it makes sense for me to go to an investor and tell him that 10% is already gone to some guy who doesn't even contribute anymore. I also want to maximise my chances of finding people interested in working with me on the thing. So I'm basically trying to buy him out, but the offer he made me (3000£) is way above what I think a half finished product with high statistical risk of failure is actually worth it.

Any ideas? Anyone experienced something similar?

8 comments

[ 99.0 ms ] story [ 1885 ms ] thread
anovikov
This is a fair offer. Take it. If 2 of you worked on something for 3 months and you don't believe it is worth 30k pounds means you don't believe in it yourself.
yassine_taw
Yes, I'm thinking of doing that. I'll try to lower a bit his price and go with what I can get.
taxcoder
Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. Just saying...
codingdave
He put 3 months of work into it. You don't want him to keep any equity, so he offered you 3000£. That sounds like a steal of a price for 3 months worth of work. And from an investor perspective, why should any investor be willing to fund a project whose owner won't even risk 3000£?

Just pay it.

Foober223
> ... working on this project for a while now (3+ months)

> ... retain the full 100% ...

> ... the offer he made me (3000£) is way above ...

Well what do you want to give him?

3000 is way below salary. A 3000 payment is a very unfair offer (unfair in your favor, not his).

Start ups that can't afford to pay salary compensate with equity. Given the "high statistical risk of failure", the equity may be close to worthless anyway.

jtchang
3000£ sounds like a bargain for you. Suppose he decides to play hardball and just stop working. Your agreement was 50/50 and he can just keep it.

The amount is also there so he will release himself of any claim against your company in the future.

obayesshelton
I would pay the £3000 if you want 100% of your company, I feel that the CTO is underselling their time. If you don't pay them you have given them 10% of sweat equity.

Maybe have a think about how far you would have got without them and if you paid somebody else how much that would have cost if you didn't give them equity.

dyeje
3000 is a steal for a quality prototype you can build on, stop being a miser and pay your friend out.