

Ask HN:  Can you fire a cofounder? - dear

A hypothetical situation:  A cofounder has not put in much effort not doing much work other than showing up in meetings. But he is not "quitting", meaning he is hanging onto the shares he already owned and is going to own (vest) in the future.  So you, the other founder, is effectively working for him.  How do you handle this situation?
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555imon
Talk and stop it immediately. If cofounder does nothing and you say that you
will stop doing any work under these circumstances nothing will be done and
this is not good for co-founder's shares. Stop it immediately. Once money,
fame and press is involved it's getting much worse.

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brudgers
Why isn't your cofounder interested in working on the project?

What would it take to get the cofounder interested?

Can you realistically discuss these issues without finger pointing and blame?

Could you move on to something else with equal potential?

What is the company worth, realistically, as a going concern, not in terms of
what you have invested in it?

If the personal relationship is broken beyond the point which it can be
readily repaired, why would you want to move forward?

Good Luck.

~~~
dear
I am pretty sure he is interested in the startup. But he has a day time job
and is unlikely to quit until seeing traction. He has his off hour activities,
mainly related to his day time job. The time he can put into this is minimal.
No personal relationship issue as of now.

~~~
brudgers
What do you believe he should be doing?

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ishener
Contract law is your friend. You claim that he breached an agreement (even if
it was not signed). if indeed you are correct, there are pretty much 2
remedies: 1\. make him fulfill his obligations (either by speaking to him or
getting an attorney) 2\. demand to renegotiate the agreement, or even breach
it yourself. for example, he should have less equity because he did not invest
enough.

explaining this legal situation to him will probably make actually going to an
attorney unnecessary

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OafTobark
Be honest and talk to your cofounder. If you both are. 50/50 and things aren't
working out, you have two options:

First, try to negotiate a termination of service with your cofounder (talk to
an attorney about this).

Second, quit yourself (but again, be honest as to why) and move onto something
else.

The above assumes you guys haven't already launched and received traction.
While the two options remain, it gets much more complicated to decide if you
are launched with traction.

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dynabros
I had an experience like this. I waited it out, kept giving him tasks to
complete, more chances, etc. One day he just decided to get a day job. My
guess is that if they're not doing anything towards the advancement of the
company, they're going to get bored and just walk away. Hopefully in your case
this is before the shares vest.

~~~
dear
Someone can be quite interested in the venture (and thus joined as a
cofounder) but at the same time be pretty lazy, or busy on their other things.
In this case, they are unlikely to "quit". They will show up in meetings and
talk, but between meetings nothing much will be done.

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debacle
From your other comments, the biggest question is what is the equity split?

You should tell him that you need more help, and he needs to give up equity so
you have something to offer to someone else that actually has time to assist
you.

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mchannon
Options:

1\. Offer a buyout (perhaps a buyout of your stake).

2\. Resign and start your own company.

3\. Document failure to perform. Consult an attorney.

4\. Grin and bear it.

5\. (not listed here)

~~~
caw
5\. Talk to your cofounder honestly

It's amazing how much people don't like to talk to one another about things.

With 4, you just end up getting pissed off and exploding later. 2 and 3 burn
bridges, 1 could be conveyed as wanting to take another path if you sell or
potentially greedy (he sells)

~~~
mchannon
Many people don't like to talk about uncomfortable subjects, and the reason is
simple: they have a pretty good idea what the result will be (not pretty).

The other partner has leverage, be it legal, financial, or emotional, and when
you're dealing with someone with leverage over you, you need to consult every
last option before you even think about bringing things up. I think the OP's
right to consider his non-conversational options.

~~~
S4M
Well, the OP is only presenting his point of view, maybe the cofounder will
think differently and a honest conversation can help clear things out. And if
not, the four other options remain.

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jpd750
Did you sign any agreements?

~~~
Goranek
Can you be more specific? What can you put in agreement that can be helpful in
this situation?

~~~
dear
The vesting mechanism only helps if one quits, but not in the case where the
cofounder does not quit by himself, or not quit early enough. So I also want
to know the answer to your question!

