

How often does one cofounder think he is contributing more than the others? - frustr8ed

I hear about all these 2 or 3 person startups and get the impression that somehow they all have perfectly distributed the workload and each cofounder is completely content with the performance of the others.  Yet, I have tried working with a few different people, and each time I get frustrated and demotivated because I feel I am contributing more than the others towards designing, building, and releasing a product.<p>I am wondering whether:<p>1) this is a problem with my attitude and my ability to work with others<p>2) my feelings are justified, and is why I need to choose cofounders very carefully<p>3) my feelings may have validity, but to be successful I need to do the best I can instead of worrying about who deserves what, and everybody will win as a result<p>I know distinguishing between these three depends a lot on the specifics of the situation.  I'm wondering what your guys' experiences this have been, and how you may have learned to tell them apart or handle it.<p>Thanks.
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michael_dorfman
I think the answer to all three questions is: Yes.

Yes, you need to watch your attitude and ability to work with others. Allowing
your thoughts of "unfairness" affect your motivation is counter-productive.

Yes, you need to choose co-founders very carefully. Find people you can trust:
I speak from (painful) experience.

Yes, to be successful you need to do the best you can and not worry about who
deserves what.

Now, that being said: the best solution to all of this is communication--
preferably in advance. Sit down, say, once a week, and talk about what the
priorities are for each of you for the coming week, and what you expect to
accomplish. If everybody is on the same page in terms of priorities and
expectations, the other problems are minor. The weekly meetings server two
purposes: 1) if there are slippages between what is expected and what is
happening, it's best to be able to deal with those quickly (i.e., within a
week) rather than let the pressure/dissatisfaction build, and 2) once you've
agreed to what your co-founders are planning to do during the week, you don't
have to think about it again until the next meeting-- you can give your
expectations and comparisons a rest.

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DevX101
Having been in this situation before, my recommendation is put in place
milestone based equity compensation.

Everyone starts out at 0 equity which increases to some predetermined maximum
upon accomplishment of agreed upon milestone. So if you're a developer and
have business partner, that partner would get 10% for securing a distribution
partnership with another site of a certain size. He may receive another 10%
for securing a certain level of investment funds. You get the idea.

I haven't tried this yet, but will certainly be using this model for future
ventures. I won't be just giving up 50% equity unless the partner is a rock
star with clear evidence of past accomplioshments

