

Ask HN: How to deal with lazy cofounder? - mistircek

Hi everyone,<p>We're a small startup of two. Lately, I found my colleague is working less and less. The code he writes is mostly buggy and undocumented. Even the unit tests are not working; so when we run them, we thought something was wrong but then saw the problem was in the unit tests themselves.<p>I don't want to micromanage, I don't want to be a bitch, but I also do not want to be the only one working in the company, or to see collapse of our  hard work.<p>Is there any way to deal with this, or is there anyone who've been in a similar position?
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bub
Talk to your partner. Communicate with him. Start with a positive, and then
explain the issues patiently and with respect. Any relationship is dependent
on good communication, and a business relationship is no different!

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waivej
I have seen something similar and it didn't end well. Though the partners
brought very different things to the table. People also invest energy in
cycles so it could just be "founders doubt" or "burnout".

Make sure you are both still having fun...and use all of the lessons you can
from dating and marriage. This could be like the business version of "seven
year itch".

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waivej
Have the difficult conversation now before you have "kids".

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tablet
When we started a product, we agreed to split shares according time spent on
the product. For example, I worked about 40 hrs per week (we all had another
(main) job initially), but other 3 people worked ~10 hrs per week. So in the
end I had higher stake.

If you both work full-time, this strategy will not help. However, you can find
a measure of value. Maybe your partner is good at something else, like
promotion and marketing. Then you should discuss responsibilities and maybe he
can do some smaller features, but will focus on something else. If that will
not work, I think you just can't keep work together, that will be a waste of
time and a road to failure.

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paulhauggis
Just be honest with him. Tell him your concerns without sounding like you are
attacking him.

If you let this sit, you will only resent him in the future, which is not the
basis for a healthy relationship. It will most likely end in disaster.

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breathesalt
It could be a motivation issue if it was a decline in work quality. If you're
like most startups, and you're not profitable right now, it's important to
quickly become profitable. Having a constant stream of real validation of your
business's value is very important--make sure you're making the right product.
Otherwise, there's no shame in pivoting or dropping the dead weight--but in my
opinion that's like firing a canary because it stopped chirping.

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codeonfire
Are you writing code yourself or are you 'non-technical'? Founders don't
'manage' other founders. You sound like a non-technical who has some idealized
view of how software is made.

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mistircek
I'm writing the code myself, how I could get the code is undocumented
otherwise?

That's what I'm saying too, I don't want to "manage" but he's being actually
lazy.

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AznHisoka
Get the heck out. You shouldn't have to micromanage him. If he doesn't have
the self discipline and mentality, he's not meant to be in the game.

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vonsydov
get rid of him asap

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Mz
I guess it depends in part on how strong your relatiomship is and how feasible
it is to determine what the root causes are and effectively address them. Due
to my undiagnosed health issues, I was always accused of laziness as a child.
I found it an unfair accusation and was very frustrated. Because of that, I
was pretty tolerant of the appearance of laziness in one of my children. He
and I have been able to resolve underlying issues of various sorts and he
seems a lot less lazy these days. Similar issues with his father could not be
resolved and we divorced. My relationship to my ex was just not as strong as
the one I have with my kids and he was not as willing to look for and resolve
the root causes.

Best of luck.

