
Cofounder of 2 person startup leaves 1 month before demo day - fastnotfurious
My cofounder just left our startup 1 month before demo day in our startup accelerator program citing that we didn&#x27;t work well together. We had had issues in the past 2 months and he is definitely more high strung than I am. He told me this two days ago, completely out of the blue with nothing (that I can think of) that triggered it. I have a month to demo day and am stuck with both the business and tech side to build out. He didn&#x27;t get any shares because we have a one year cliff and we started the company in Jan. Would really like to ask if others have had the same experience, your interpretation of the situation and any advice you might have.
Thanks
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adventured
Honestly I don't think there's much to interpret.

My opinion is that you either need to abandon the upcoming demo day goal - or
if you feel that you absolutely must be ready for demo day (eg the project is
dead for some reason if you don't), find someone to fill in extremely soon
that you already have a high degree of trust and knowledge of (you know that
you can get along with them, and you know their skillset). That person doesn't
necessarily have to become a long-term part of the company, however the
accelerator won't be thrilled by a short-term patch either, because it'll
imply disruption in the near future anyway. You'll also reasonbly need to give
the contributor a small amount of equity. Maybe you get lucky down that route
and find a long-term new co-founder.

If you don't already know some people you can potentially talk to about
filling in for that role asap, then push off the demo day goal and take aim of
a new goal. The sooner these decisions can be made, the better. See if your
accelerator will bump you to their next demo day, if possible. If you need a
co-founder for the next demo day, then immediately begin looking for one.

My personal opinion would be to abandon the upcoming demo day and shift your
horizon, unless everything is going to die if you don't make that. If you're
confident your product is truly worth doing (take a bit of time here and now
and confirm that for yourself), then it's still worth getting it ready for
three or six months from now, instead of a month from now.

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fastnotfurious
Hi Adventured. Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately in this program, there is
no way of pushing off the demo day to the next one. I definitely agree that
getting another co-founder in such a short amount of time sounds like a
rebound in a breakup and will be destined to fail. Guess I'm wondering how
much does it affect my investment possibilities.

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chetann
Going solo would be an option, I have seen some of my friends going through
similar situation and some of the worst too when things don't work between the
founders. It's best to let go person and look for people who can work with you
in long term.

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fastnotfurious
How much did that affect investors investing in the company come demo day?
Could you describe what happened to your friends who went through similar
stuff please?

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hoodoof
Just be a single founder. Much easier.

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fastnotfurious
Definitely easier, but concerned about whether investors wouldn't touch the
company. Any thoughts?

