

My Co-Founder Doesn't Want to Commit. Pls Help. - MediaSquirrel

Hi Guys,<p>After almost a year of development and working part-time jobs, we launched our company last month and have gotten tons of great press, investor interest, customer interest, etc. Mashable just ran a story on us this week, a major magazine is coming over next week to do a photo shoot to accompany a story they're writing about us, major media companies have approached us to partner, and top tier angel investors are interested in doing a seed round. All awesome, except for one thing: My co-founder/CTO (50% shareholder with vesting) doesn't want to drop out of grad school and commit to going full-time.<p>Initially, this whole thing was my idea and I convinced him to do it with me because he's a super smart dude who gets shit done and has already helped one startup get to a successful exit. But that was a few years ago. Now he's in Architecture school and living in Europe. I'm here in the US. When I originally contacted him, we hadn't spoken for &#62;5 years and he had just started this architecture program after a career doing film CG (like I said, super smart dude). He was bored with school (not technical enough, he said) and I talked him into building a prototype of our product (I'm not a programmer). Then I went out and pitched to a top-tier VC. He said he loved it and even wrote about it on his blog. At this point, my co-founder and I decided to split the equity 50/50, with half upfront, and the other half vesting over 3 years .<p>In the fall, I went to a job fair and recruited 3 more guys to join the team. Initially, they worked on a trial basis as contractors in exchange for iPhones, but now we're ready to give two of them serious equity (above market rates).<p>Since we launched, I've basically blown off my day job and gone very close to full-time on this, attempting to broker deals and raise money. Our initial capitalization came from $8k I put in (most of it a personal loan from my dad). This week, I quit my job and raised $10k from my brother and a high school friend. Big time angels and seed funds are actively interested and talking to us, but a sticking point is whether my co-founder will come to the US or not (we haven't even brought up the not-full-time issue).<p>For our launch, I flew my co-founder out here from Europe, putting the tab on my own personal credit card. I knew that he wasn't going to really get excited about dropping everything unless he was here talking to customers, investors and feeling the buzz, etc with me. At the same time, my personal credit debt has been ballooning because of how little paid work I've done.<p>Now my co-founder wants to finish the semester of grad school and work remotely from Europe until we know the company is going to succeed. There's still too much risk, he says, to drop everything. I can deal with him staying in Europe, but I'm going fucking insane over the idea that I'm taking money from my own family (not wealthy), letting my personal debt balloon and my co-founder, who owns half the company, isn't even willing to drop what he's currently doing to do this as a full-fledged effort.<p>To be clear, I don't want to fire him. Hell no. He's super creative and smart and he's built our core IP. And he's a great programmer. But the current state of affairs just cannot stand.<p>Suggestions?<p>Thanks.
-Extremely Frustrated
======
there
so are you more concerned that he's not dropping out of school and moving to
the US, or that he's not putting up any money?

i can see both points of view, but it does kind of sound like you're asking a
lot of him. from what you've written, he's created your core IP so he's put in
his share of work (vs your money) and simply wants more than $10k from your
brother in the bank before he drops out of school and moves to another country
to work with you.

is his staying in europe really that big of a deal to your customers and
investors? it sounds like he'd be willing to come over as soon as there's some
serious funding available, or after he finishes school.

~~~
ttol
ask the CTO cofounder what it would take for him to drop everything and move
to US, then either negotiate that or achieve what he's asking for.

from his perspective, he created the core product, and you've put in some
initial seed capital and drum up interest. his opportunity cost is very high
so he'll need something to balance out the risk..

~~~
MediaSquirrel
Doing that now. Not really getting answer.

------
johnl
Could he just mentor a replacement for a portion reduction in his equity
instead of him taking a major role in the company? a new partner would get the
ball rolling. He would still be available for consultation but out of the
business loop and this way he could continue doing his Arch. study.

------
khelloworld
As it is now, there is you, your company/project and a developer (albeit a
talented one) who lives in Europe.

I think you have yet to find a "co-founder," sir.

------
Mz
_Initially, this whole thing was my idea and I convinced him to do it_

It sounds like you never had real commitment from him.

 _To be clear, I don't want to fire him. Hell no. He's super creative and
smart and he's built our core IP. And he's a great programmer. But the current
state of affairs just cannot stand._

Something you need to be clear about is that you cannot control another human
being. You can only decide what _you_ will do. As someone else said, for him
to do this involves a high opportunity cost right now. He has told you what it
will take for him to commit:

 _Now my co-founder wants to finish the semester of grad school and work
remotely from Europe until we know the company is going to succeed. There's
still too much risk, he says, to drop everything._

Here is your piece of it (at least according to what you have said):

 _I can deal with him staying in Europe, but I'm going fucking insane over the
idea that I'm taking money from my own family (not wealthy), letting my
personal debt balloon and my co-founder, who owns half the company, isn't even
willing to drop what he's currently doing to do this as a full-fledged
effort._

Suggestions:

1) Stop borrowing from family.

2) See if you can get funding from elsewhere which will allow you to pay back
your relatives so you can get this monkey off your back.

3) Come to terms with the fact that right now you are way more committed than
he is (and apparently always have been) and _either_ lower your current
commitment/investment level so this is no longer consuming you and destroying
your finances _or_ begin formulating a plan to cut him loose and go whole hog
on your own.

4) If you go with the route of lowering your commitment level (by, say, taking
a job so you have some personal income coming in), it only needs to last until
he has graduated school. If he won't make a commitment at that time, he will
probably never make a commitment. If you are unable to cut him loose now, pick
a date that has a logical basis (such as "3 months after he graduates") by
which time he needs to be on board full time or he needs to go. You can let
him know the deal and it can basically be his decision.

Again: You cannot control another human being. You can only take measure of
the situation and make decisions about your own choices. Loyalty is a fine
quality. But if it isn't a two-way street, the expression for that is "getting
used". (Your description of the situation sounds an awful lot like some of the
one-sided romantic relationships I have heard about. I don't imagine you would
appreciate the comparison, so I have deleted those remarks.)

Good luck with this.

