

Ask HN: How do startups make decisions? - Schultzy

When multiple founders have equal equity stakes, how do you decide "where the buck stops" when there is a disagreement?<p>Do you agree beforehand that one person is the "CEO" or do you just flip a coin when something comes up?<p>What have you found to be the best strategies/tactics for making decisions in your ventures?
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allwein
It doesn't really matter what strategy you have, as long as you've agreed on a
strategy beforehand. In the past, we've done coin flips, even/odd pepperonis
on a pizza, rock-paper-scissors, even a ping pong game. Another alternative
that I'm fond of is to have a disinterested third party to be a tiebreaker.

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Schultzy
Do you really think that "it doesn't really matter" how you make decisions
concerning things like which direction to take the company, whether to hire a
potential employee or not, or whether or not you should accept funding from a
particular source? Are those really the sorts of things best left to RPS? It
seems like you might want to have a bit more intentionality behind such
processes that could seriously impact the success of the venture

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allwein
I didn't say "it doesn't really matter" how you make decisions. The original
post was about the scenario where multiple founders with equal stakes
disagreed on a decision.

I'm assuming that they've both made their best arguments on each of their
viewpoints and that both choices are rational and reasonable decisions, and
yet they can't reach an agreement. In that case, no, "it doesn't really
matter" how you choose which founder gets his way.

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Schultzy
Got it.

Thanks!

