

Ask HN: Have any good founder breakup stories? - breakupsarehard

I don't want to be a gossip, just interested if anyone has any stories to share about how it went, how you got to that point, etc. This is a throwaway account for obvious reasons.<p>My co-founder and I have had a good run but I think it's about time to part ways. I'm technical, he's non-technical. It seems like it's the same ol' story: We are doomed. He is trying to scale the business before we have customers or a product that has been proven in the market and won't listen to me on anything not technology related (and sometimes even tech-related things go without me). We are already an LLC (we were in the first week, actually) and have divvy'd up C-level titles.<p>He brought on one of his friends to be our "CFO" and do marketing-related activities. Marketing guy doesn't like the product and thinks we should pivot. So, the product is pivoted and I don't hear about said pivot until the decision has been made and the sales direction has changed ("We need the product to do X now" where X is something entirely unrelated to the domain and requires a herculean effort). He also brought on a guy to do sales -- originally he was supposed to be doing sales but doesn't want to...so is paying someone else to do it which is suboptimal for many reasons.<p>To get some "initial revenue in the door" the company is getting signed up for consulting gigs. I'm not interested doing them and have concerns about the direction of the company (why do I keep saying company? We aren't a company). I voice the concerns but the proposal is sent anyway. Damn.<p>The guy is impossible to work with and I feel like a glorified (barely) code monkey working on something I'm not even interested in. He wants to be a "vision guy" but his vision is consistently flawed but refuses to take anyone's input. I feel like I should just go get a 9-5 at this point.<p>But, another project I started on whim a few weeks back is getting some traction! Unlike this company's product, I actually have users (non-paying, but at least a base of people to bounce my stuff off). So the future isn't entirely bleak, but it's going to be a rough conversation to have.<p>Edit: Boy, this post sounds pretty whiny. I did do some things -- a lot of things-- wrong. For instance, if we have a product that is not validated against a market there should be no reason for a pivot to be super painful. Likewise, I should have been better at asserting myself when decision time came. So, lessons for the next round, I suppose...
======
thetrumanshow
Wait, they're booking you on consulting gigs to get revenue for a startup
company (with probably zero valuation) and you're the only technical guy doing
the work? Red flag!

Edit: The point is, unless you are trying to earn money to match a monetary
investment they've already made in the company, it doesn't make much sense.
You could be pocketing the consulting $ yourself.

~~~
breakupsarehard
Heh, yeah I find that pretty scary too. Good point about matching, he has put
in a lot of cash already but in a way that I feel like we don't need.
Unfortunately the way the gig is structured the cost will absorb the cash
we're making (we have some really expensive hardware).

------
ookblah
I'm on month 8 w/ my co-founder (okay, that's a lie, we've been friends for
about 5 years or so), but that "honeymoon" period wears off quick and little
things start to creep up.

Communication is key, and so is unity in vision. If you ever have any doubts,
then bring it up, even if you brought it up yesterday. This is something that
can't be beat to death, and will save you from doing stupid stuff like
building things then being like "why did you build that, the customer wanted
X" or "i thought we going to focus on Y".

I know you're venting right now so sorry for the long diatribe. Kind of sounds
like you're past that point of reconcile. Bummer. Hope things work out.

~~~
breakupsarehard
Thanks! Reconciliation isn't nescessarily out of the question. I expressed in
no uncertain terms how unhappy I was with a few things earlier, we'll see if
my concerns are addressed or not.

~~~
petervandijck
Dude, you're a co-founder, but you're acting like an undervalued, underpaid
employee. Walk away.

------
petervandijck
Walk out.

Offer them your consulting services at x$/hr, where X > 50.

Next time, don't let a co-founder "bring on" people without you involved.

------
brudgers
At this point it sounds like there's no product, no customers, and no money -
and no faith in the success of the enterprise on your part. Based on what has
been presented, it doesn't sound like a situation worthy of a significant
runway investment. My gut tells me that when a firm has no product and needs
consulting gigs, then there isn't enough runway for a successful startup.

