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Ask HN: How to deal with a non-performing co-founder?

6 points by ThrowIt384 ↗ HN
6 months after I started a startup I invited a freelancer to be my technical co-founder. I gave him a good share of the company (vested 4 years+1 cliff). We have been working for 5 months now.

He is a nice guy and his heart is in the right place, but he is not very talented as a developer. He also have told me that he wants to stop being a dev and start being the biz guy, and he doesn't have experience/knowledge being the biz guy either.

This question in Quora http://goo.gl/TJLcG that describes well my question. Just wanted to know if you, founders, have faced something similar or how do you deal with a problem like this.

(posting this from a throw away account)

Edit: I'm a business co-founder that can code

8 comments

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brk
Sit him down and say "sorry, but it's not working out. No hard feelings, I wish you the best of luck, but this isn't the right project for you."

You did the right thing by vesting options, and it seems clear that there is no fit for him. So, the outcome is inevitable, you owe him nothing but politeness, the rest is just timing.

wewyor
Considering he gave him a good share of the company he may have to buy him out if he goes this way.
brk
How so?

If it's only been 5 months, and there is a 1 year cliff, I don't see where the issue is. On top of that, he would only have the right to exercise (purchase) options if he wanted to, and you would have no immediate obligation to buy him out of anything at all.

petervandijck
How do you break up with a girlfriend? Speak plainly and clearly. Keep it short, no need to go to much into the reasons apart from 'it's not working out'. Then sit through the 'buts' and 'whys'.

I'm not sure how it works with the vested shares, if you owe him any compensation. Perhaps you can/should offer him some cash, since he did put in 5 months?

esw
Be aware that these situations can sour very quickly. Be prepared to compensate him fairly for his contribution, and ensure that he doesn't have control of any pieces of the business (code, domain names, etc) that are irreplaceable.
code
You need to be honest with him and tell him things aren't working out and that he was originally brought on as a technical cofounder and he hasn't been working out for that role and he wants to switch to being a business cofounder which is not what you need.

Talk to an attorney about something called the Termination of Service agreement, have him sign this agreement along with the Convention Invention Assignment agreement. You'll need to compensate him some dollar amount for signing the agreement in good faith but it'll be the cleanest way to separate and vitally important moving forward.

bdclimber14
An approach that I just took with my underperforming cofounder was to give him a week trial to prove himself. The goal wasn't to actually get him to prove himself, but rather to show him that he no longer was a good fit so he could make the decision himself. On Friday, I said the following:

"I'm concerned that something is seriously affecting your ability to be productive with this startup. You and I both know that you aren't accomplishing what you're capable of. So instead of letting this grow into a problem I wanted to talk about it and see how I can help. I'm also afraid I haven't communicated my expectations reasonably. I'm sure you can understand my concern since this our entire lives right now. I don't want you to feel like you're trapped or forced to do something that you're not interested in. You know by now that doing a startup takes more than a 100% dedication. If you feel like you have lost some passion for it, then I want you to pursue what you are 100% passionate for. I won't have any problem at all because I know how hard it is to feel like you would be letting someone down. If I'm completely mistaken, then I want to be clear about my expectations and give you a week to make sure that you want to pursue this. [Outline expectations]. This is a decision I can't make for you, so I want you to think about it and starting Monday you can start to see if you're still interested."

On Sunday night, he resigned without me having to "fire" him.

amourgh
Talk with him,and say "That's not working for me in a long term" and pay him some cash to go.That's what i did.No way to be with him anymore.If he is not a good fit ,if he stays,that will make you very sick and will make every day a hell.Better to fail alone or succed alone as he is not the rigth person to be a co-founder.