

Ask HN: Should I fire my co-founder? - frisbee

My co-founder is proving to be a problem. When we started I didn't know his abilities. He came from a top school and is a hard worker so I took him on board.<p>Now when the rubber has to meet the road, he hasn't been cutting it. Its been one year. He needs a lot of coaching on good quality programming. Does zilch marketing/sales work. Gets frustrated easily. Mostly does a half assed job at most things.<p>I think many of you may have faced this, so I want to get an idea from the community.<p>Pros: He devotes a lot of time at work. I don't know why he doesn't get the output though.
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ScottWhigham
"When we started I didn't know his abilities." - why not? This makes me
question you, not him. Were you a poor interviewer? Were you inexperienced?
Who signs on with a co-founder without knowing what the other person brings to
the table? Did you not look into his prior work, interview employers, etc?

You also don't give me enough background about you/him/situation to give me
any insight that could be truly helpful. Are you a great programmer thus able
to tell that his output/work is not up to snuff? Or are you the business guy
and just unhappy that he's not giving you what you want as fast as you want?
Hell, for all we know he's kicking ass working through some insanely hard
problems that no one else could have done in half the time.

~~~
frisbee
Yes mea culpa. I was inexperienced. First time entrepreneur. I picked him
because he was available and willing.

I am a programmer. Not a "great" one. But basically his productivity is at
best 30% of mine on a good day. That makes me feel he's a deadweight. Because
he doesn't do other activities well either.

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andrewguenther
First you need to address the issue with him, point out that it is an issue,
and give him a specific amount of time to shape up. If he can't do this by the
deadline, then you need to cut him lose before he becomes a bigger problem
later.

~~~
frisbee
I have done this. I have given him specific actionables to try.

I am now at a loss to communicate how to be more productive. I have tried by
example, by direct recipe. I have a feeling that either he doesn't get it or
he isn't smart enough.

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frisbee
I really hope that the community sees this and I get a few fresh ideas on how
to solve this situation. Right now I am struggling every day.

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abbasmehdi
Get to the root cause before taking action, the 5 whys or something.

~~~
frisbee
Just read about this. So far I have tried very hard to blame the process and
not the person but in a small startup - I don't understand how to not put
blame on the person.

Edit: I don't want to bitch or make this sound like a rant. Whenever I have
tried to point out weaknesses and areas of improvement, they seem to cause
cognitive dissonance.

