
Ask HN: Realised I put in much more work than cofounder. What to do? - ponyous
I will try to keep this short and write only essential information:<p>- I and a friend started a company together in Feb, working remotely, 50%&#x2F;50% split<p>- He is business&#x2F;marketing, I am product developer who built early version few months prior to starting a company with him and we built the product on top of that.<p>- We put a vesting schedule in place, but it&#x27;s pretty poorly written, specifying only what happens if person leaves, not specifying any duties or similar. (My first time doing that, be gentle!)<p>- Because it was almost exclusively product development till now I naturally had much more work than him.<p>- First few months he did not put in as much work due to personal reasons (I was ok with that since I had more work at that point anyways), but things are not improving and he realizes we are getting close to launch date<p>- Considering he had much less work to do than I did, he somehow still didn&#x27;t manage to get things ready for launch, and it&#x27;s starting to block me + I have to do his stuff. This is why I started to be nervous. I put in much more than he did so far.<p>- He is open to suggestions that would make things fair, but he would preferably do it in a way to keep 50% share I assume<p>- I am speaking with him about the situation as well and we both want to resolve it in the fairest way possible. I have faith that he will shine once we go live (in about a month), but I can&#x27;t get rid of feeling that I may be screwing myself.<p>What is the normal way to deal with a situation like this? Essentially I would like to avoid the fact that I will do more work and then we will be equal. I am happy to be equal if the same amount of work was put in. And it may happen that in months after launch he will be much busier than me... But what if he just keeps on slacking? Advice?
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tomarr
There's a big chance the cost of any fallout is going to hit your company
harder than any extra % you negotiate.

I know it's not easy if it feels like your partner is not pulling their
weight, but your focus should be on making the product a success at this
stage. 60% of nothing is worth no more than 50% of nothing.

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dnh44
There is so much work to do in a business that's not product development that
having someone who can take care of that for you which can allow you to focus
on the product is pretty amazing.

It does sound like maybe you have to be the leader though so identify things
that need doing and delegate. Consider this your chance to develop your
leadership skills.

However this isn't really ideal though because as a 50% cofounder he should be
actively seeking non technical things to do to make the company better. At
this stage of the company there is no such thing as not having enough work to
do.

Likewise you need to be feeding back your progress to him so he sees progress
on your side as well. Progress creates enthusiasm which is contagious; if he
doesn't catch the bug and up his game soon you need to get him out. He clearly
cares less than you at this point. If that doesn't change you're in trouble
because the person who cares less always has the power in a relationship.

You're only a month away from launch so a wait and see attitude seems prudent
but if your launch was a year away I'd suggest you get out. It seems like
you're all in but he isn't yet. If that doesn't change your life will be
miserable. Working remotely will not be your friend in this situation.

I think maybe you need a plan to get him out in case things don't work out.
Has he put money into the company? Are you both doing this full time? Who owns
the IP of the technical work done so far? Has he found customers for you yet
or done any market research to guide the development of the product? Is he
awesome at what he does? Can you easily close this company and restart without
him?

Good luck!

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lebanon_tn
I suggest you fix the communication issue that has led to you feeling this
way. Ideally when things inevitably come up you can both be open about what's
going on, and concerns either of you have.

Most of the hard work is still ahead of you. Try to keep the equity split
equal unless someone is talking about a drastically reduced role. Openness is
key.

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onion2k
_But what if he just keeps on slacking?_

You don't trust your co-founder. Walk away now.

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ponyous
Or I have trust issues and he should walk away. I can't be certain about that
and I don't know him all my life either.

Anyways; we agreed to define some performance indicators, he had some nice
ideas and I feel confident in agreement.

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Huhty
Discuss it with him.

But also keep in mind that as the business/marketing guy, a lot of the work he
puts in is not really visible, especially early on. Running social media
channels, blogging (content marketing), networking, PR, etc, requires a lot of
time and dedication to do it right.

I spend 20 hours a week on things like this, and more often than not, I feel
like I'm wasting my time because results don't really happen overnight. Wins
(no matter how big or small) don't come easy, and it just adds to the
frustration.

I obviously can't speak for him though because I'm not really sure what he
actually does.

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pedrodelfino
You should read this book (your cofounder too):
[http://slicingpie.com/book/](http://slicingpie.com/book/)

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jimnotgym
Is it a great project worth millions? If so 50% of it is still a lot, maybe
just carry on?

