

Need advice: How to help my co-founder get her energy and confidence back? - auzieo

My co-founder and I have been working on a bootstrapping project for 4 months. We aren't rushed and can still go without revenue for about a year.<p>The problem is that she does barely anything for the project. Yes, I could make a 5-item list of the things she's actually done: designed a logo, made a few design mockups she never completed, researched influencers we'll contact later to get the word out... Yet in the meantime I've built an entire mobile web app, and took care of a lot of the design and marketing copy that she was supposed to handle.<p>We are close friends, and I've seen her accomplish a lot in other areas. I asked her many times if she really enjoyed the project and her role in it, if she wanted to work on other aspects of the project or just give up and do something else. It wouldn't ruin our friendship. She is adamant that she does love the project, and she thinks that she can't work because she's too afraid of failing. It's a difficult project in an area where she has little experience, and it freezes her. We've talked about the issue a lot, both doing some introspection and trying to understand how to make it work, but so far the situation hasn't changed.<p>I am desperately looking for advice. Is her situation common? Should I just give up and stop here? Is there a specific way that I should handle her which would give her the confidence that she needs? I know, she's <i>my</i> friend, so I should know best, but none of my approaches worked and I'm desperate.
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mgkimsal
Re-evaluate the business relationship - she's not really a 'co-founder' any
more, or perhaps never was. Revisit the relationship and make her employee #1
with a moderate equity stake, or just an 'advisor' who's given some equity
stake in the project. I'm assuming you're 50/50 on this (which I'm not sure I
could ever bring myself to do personally) but she's certainly not contributing
anywhere near 50% of the initial work, and apparently she realizes it.

Keep the friendship, rework the business relationship to something fairer to
all involved.

