What should I do about my lazy partner?
My partner and I are in the very early stages of submitting a business proposal to an entrepreneurship contest (and hopefully more than one). We have both committed to carrying our idea out - to building our product. As such, we agreed to meet every morning at 8am (we live in the same complex and no travel time was required). Since we are still both in school, we wanted to meet at a time we both could commit to every day, the purpose of the meetings being to discuss readings we have done, to bounce ideas around, to add specifics to our business idea, and to generally stay focused and motivated.
Here's the thing: in the past 7 days, my partner has failed to make ONE meeting. I'm up every day, down at the breakfast table by 8am ready to meet, and he fails to do so. Furthermore, he doesn't even acknowledge his absence. I'm upset obviously because this is something that I am really passionate and excited about, and he can't even wake up for 8am! I'm curious as to whether anyone else has had a similar experience.
Objectively the answer here seems to be to drop him as a partner. I'm torn only because I respect his intelligence and know that if he was on top of his work ethic we could build something great together. It's truly frustrating to find someone you could see yourself working with long term - who has committed to a project - only to abandon you essentially.
I am worried about losing focus without a partner to push me (and vice versa) and bounce ideas around with.
Help and advice would be much appreciated. I've got to turn this into a positive learning experience.
15 comments
[ 0.19 ms ] story [ 58.1 ms ] threadIt's possible that his absence is his way of telling you that he doesn't think meeting everyday is important. I would hope it's not just that he forgets or can't wake up that early at least.
In general, intelligence is a critical feature of a good partner but reliability and chemistry are more important. If you do start a company with this person, you are getting married for 5 years (or at least you have to treat it that way). If there is already friction now, that should be telling you that you don't have the right fit. At the stage you are at now you should be running at full steam instead of wondering why you are sitting alone in the morning.
I suggest breaking it off. You'll be thankful later when you find a partner on the same wavelength and things really click.
But it seems like this is pretty thin at this point, so walk away.
If you don't have the courage to do this, how are you going to face the much tougher battles yet to come?
Have you had a meeting to explain potential risks of foundership that includes a founder splitting off?
"in the past 7 days, my partner has failed to make ONE meeting"
Dear OP, this states that your partner has made it to 6 out of 7 meetings. I know you didn't actually mean that, but that's what you said (well, typed).
If his work ethic continues to be a problem, talk to him about it. Ask him to commit to a number of hours per week, and track/verify this. If he still fails, then call off the project.
You're both students. Don't get hung up on little stuff like this. You'll never have this much flexibility in your life again (well, until your start-up succeeds and you're gazillionaires, I guess). Don't try to be too corporate too fast. Be rock stars.
Does he have any idea how much this is destroying your trust in him? Tell him your expectations, give him a chance to shape up, and if he doesn't, you know what to do.
But he got stuff done. I mean, middle of the night, when a server went down, he fixed it. I couldn't argue with that. Some people just do things on their own time.
But it has to work for you. If you're not cool with that kind of person, deal with it now, before you sign papers.
And it has to be a two-way street. This guy who worked for me let me know that he couldn't keep regular hours - it just wouldn't work. He didn't just stop coming in - he told me about it. We worked out something that would work.
If your guy is just missing stuff and not telling you, that's a trust thing.
Partnerships are marriages. You have to trust the other person. You are one. And it's way way easier to break up with your girlfriend/boyfriend than it is to divorce your spouse or dissolve a business partnership.
If it bugs you that much, deal with it now.
The meetings are probably not so important in the grand scheme of things. How is everything else progressing? Meeting every day at 8 AM could be a big waste of time. Perhaps that time could be better spent actually building something rather than having discussions.
Personally, I keep quite busy with work, so if I were in this situation that meeting time might be the only time I would have to work on a side project. I'm a freelancer and I generally work in teams with other developers. We try to avoid meetings (chat or voice sessions) if at all possible. More effective is an email which the other person could read at any time. Meetings can turn into a serious time sink which can eat into the day.
Everyone has their own preferred way of working. Go ahead and try to find someone who is a closer match to your preferred way of working, but you will need to compromise as well, especially when you are looking at partnering with someone as opposed to hiring this person as an employee.
Also if you live in the same complex and you have no idea as to why your partner missed the meetings, than your communication needs some work.
If all you are doing is just meeting to prepare for a business proposal, than most likely your idea isn't going to go anywhere. Start working on implementing your business plan rather than putting your business plan together.
You don't need to be in touching distance to come up with an idea. When you do have a great vision, that will motivate you. It is kind of like trying to be motivated to fall in love before meeting the person you're going to be in love with.
Don't force it. On him or on yourself. When a great idea comes to you, no one will be able to keep you from getting there.
Have you asked him about it, or are you just quietly seething about this? If you're sure that he knows about the meetings and is deliberately blowing them off, then it sounds like you're much more excited about the idea than he is. I've watched a lot of early stage startups fall apart like this - one person is legitimately motivated, and the other is casually interested enough to stay partially engaged, but they disappear when when substantial work is required.