Personally, I would ignore it. If they're an over-performer and taking a brain-break then it won't affect their productivity. If they're a slacker anyway then it's a matter for management to solve. The larger problem would be if the person is an under-achieve, management knows, and they do nothing. In this case the video game playing is the symptom of an organization with management issues.
Since they are a co-founder, who is "the management" that is going to see individual performance issues and solve them? I hope you don't think that "the board" will know in a vacuum that an individual is underperforming...
Sounds like you are asking "What if my co-founder doesn't do everything exactly the way I want and I would do".
If you had asked, what if my co-founder is not meeting his/her obligations, then that is a different story regardless of whether they are playing video games or not.
They're probably just taking a break. time_sunk != output.
I "waste" time at work quite often but that's because I know when I am in certain moods of productivity. Forcing myself to work when I'm not in the mental state to do so is like beating a dead horse. Perhaps your co-founder also recognises this.
Have an honest discussion. Keep your concerns free from judgemental language; for example: "When I see you playing video games it makes me concerned about what your priorities are and I want to have a chat about it." If they're reasonable, they'll be straight with you. If they ascribe any judgement in your words (assuming you use non-judgemental language) then they're probably feeling attacked, in which case, I would de-escalate. The key thing here is empathy. If you handle the situation with decorum, and they do not, then you likely have more problems beyond your co-founder wasting time.
If it’s a gaming startup I’d say they’re hard at work testing product! Otherwise I wouldn’t care whether it’s gaming versus _insert any other non-work activity_ unless the work isn’t getting done.
If it’s not getting done I’d focus the inevitable conversation on that metric, not the gaming.
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[ 1.0 ms ] story [ 38.1 ms ] threadFire him/her!
If you had asked, what if my co-founder is not meeting his/her obligations, then that is a different story regardless of whether they are playing video games or not.
also sleep well :)
I "waste" time at work quite often but that's because I know when I am in certain moods of productivity. Forcing myself to work when I'm not in the mental state to do so is like beating a dead horse. Perhaps your co-founder also recognises this.
Have an honest discussion. Keep your concerns free from judgemental language; for example: "When I see you playing video games it makes me concerned about what your priorities are and I want to have a chat about it." If they're reasonable, they'll be straight with you. If they ascribe any judgement in your words (assuming you use non-judgemental language) then they're probably feeling attacked, in which case, I would de-escalate. The key thing here is empathy. If you handle the situation with decorum, and they do not, then you likely have more problems beyond your co-founder wasting time.
edit: coworker to co-founder
If it’s not getting done I’d focus the inevitable conversation on that metric, not the gaming.