
Ask HN: How to fire your Co-founder? - jondoefounder
I created an anonymous account to post about this, since it&#x27;s a very delicate situation.<p>I&#x27;ve known my co-founder for a while, we&#x27;ve worked together before and overall we&#x27;ve had good outcomes on our businesses.<p>Now we&#x27;re working in a new startup that&#x27;s far away from his comfort zone and he&#x27;s not being able to catch up and do what the startup needs in this stage. We&#x27;ve talked about it several times, but situation hasn&#x27;t changed.<p>Now, I can&#x27;t waste more time trying to make him change his mind and talking about what we need at this stage, so I know that I need to fire him.<p>He&#x27;s very good for areas that the company doesn&#x27;t need now, but it&#x27;ll probably will in about 2 years.<p>Startup situation:
 - product launched
 - pre revenue
 - non of us are vested
 - we raised some money (about 120k)<p>So my questions are:
- How would you approach the issue?
- What&#x27;ll be a fair deal to give him?
- What if he wants to stay at the company?
- Giving that this is high season for us until the end of the year, should I wait until December?
- Any other recommendations?
======
hluska
First, if you've had good outcomes on your businesses with this person, are
you really sure that you want to pull out the fire hammer? The problem with
the fire hammer is that you're almost certainly going to kill off the
relationship and run a serious risk of poisoning a large part of your shared
network. For example, you raised $120k, which makes me think you both have a
relationship with the investor(s) involved. What could that fallout really
look like? You've had good outcomes on your businesses, which tells me that
the two of you can work very well together.

Second, really think about the kinds of phrases that you use in this. Consider
phrases like this:

\- He's not being able to catch up.

\- I can't waste more time.

\- Should I wait until December?

\- He's very good for areas that the company doesn't need now.

Are you sure that the problem isn't you? First, you started a company with
someone knowing it was outside of his comfort zone and that his skills would
be most valuable in two years. Are you sure you want to fire someone because
you made a poor choice?

Honestly, you sound like you're lacking empathy. Part of founding a company
with someone is having a level of empathy towards that person. Without empathy
towards a co-founder, there's no way that you'll be able to identify with
customers or employees enough to build something special.

As well, do you mostly communicate in writing? If so, is it possible that he
just doesn't understand what you're saying? Again, I'm not trying to offend
you, but your writing is hard to follow.

Third, this should go without saying, but don't fire anyone in December.
That's just a colossal dick move.

~~~
jondoefounder
Thanks Hluska, I'm aware I lack of empathy, it's a flaw I have that I've been
working on.

We communicate over the phone or in-person meetings, I understand that my
english is not flawless, so what you mentioned it's not an issue.

If it's my fault? Off course it is, but that doesn't mean that once I realize
I made a mistake I can't do something to change that. On the other hand, he
was aware when we started to work on this that many things were going to be
out of our comfort zone and that we need to learn every day, that's what you
do in a startup. The problem starts when you just don't want to do something
because you don't like it and you try to find a magical solution to all of
your problems.

About the investors, yes they invested on us based on our track record, I'm
sure they'll understand the problem we're going trough now, they are smart
people. We also talked about this issue before with them.

I have to rephrase, the goal it's not to fire him, but to change the equity
structure and his role on the company. If at the end he prefers to leave,
that's not ideal, but it'll be ok.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll put my effort on communicating everything with
emphaty, I don't want to ruin the relationship with my co-founder because I
know he's a good person and that he will be very useful for the company in a
near future.

------
jjk166
Unless you specified how to do so in your operating agreement (in which case
you wouldn't be asking us) you can't fire a co-founder. Either he can leave of
his own volition, or you can. I'm going to assume what you mean is "how do I
convince my cofounder to leave?"

While you say that your co-founder lacks the skills you need right now, you
also say he has skills that will be valuable in the future, plus the fact that
you are worried about losing his contribution during the busy season implies
that he does make some contribution right now significant enough to worry
about losing. You clearly need to bring someone else on so that you have the
skills you need (no sense in trying to fit a square peg into a round hole),
but that doesn't automatically mean you need to get rid of your current
cofounder. It sounds like the startup is generally healthy and you are just
reaching the point where you need to expand. This expansion may require
raising more money or tightening your belts, but I would not throw away a
proven good partner if there were another viable option. It's not necessarily
unfair to ask him to tighten his belt more than you, though I would hesitate
to adopt the mindset that it's his fault you need to expand.

Now if the problem isn't that your co-founder lacks the ability to do what the
startup needs but rather is refusing to do what the startup needs, that's a
different situation. I imagine this isn't a personality issue if you've worked
together well before, more likely you just have different visions for what the
startup needs. In such cases, it's good to have some third party to talk to,
such as your investors or any advisors your company may have. It's easy to
disagree with someone, it's very tough to disagree with everyone. At the same
time though, instead of going in with the intention of forcing him to see
things your way, look to understand his vision and consider modifying your own
to an acceptable compromise between the two.

~~~
jondoefounder
He agrees on what we need to do, but he's just not following through. It's not
about results it's about doing what we said we have to do in a reasonable time
and also about overdelivering, you're not an employee that has to do what the
job description says.

I totally agree about "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole", right
now I might be a little pissed off because I'm doing all the hard work and
he's on the passenger seat enjoying the view.

We do need to expand the team, but there are many things that the co-founder
has to manage by himself on an early stage.

I plan to include a 3rd party like an advisor or an investor that knows both
of us.

Thanks for your comments! This really helps guys.

