Ask YC: What to do when co-founder won't take plunge

[pclark]

long story short, my co-founder and I are finally nearing a public beta of our web app, he founded idea with me, but then had "personal stuff" for 3 months so I've done 90% development of current iteration.

I'd love to walk away from our day jobs, I'll put in ~$10k and we'd work till its done -- I've built a great network of contacts (in the biz world mostly) so I'm semi-confident I can get some form of angel investment if needed.

But he won't join full time -- blaming the job market, the risks are too high, etc etc.

You might wonder why I don't do it solo -- I'm not a coder by trade -- I coded to learn rails, but my main skills are business & UI stuff (studied UI degree and love business in spare time)

What do you think? Should I walk away from co-founder and find someone else [any advice on this stuff?], continue trying to tempt him or go solo?

[RiderOfGiraffes]

Buy him out or walk away from it. You won't be able to persuade him, and even if you succeed, he'll blame you for every problem. Talk about the problem, and ask if you can buy his share. Potentially offer something like 10% of future profits, capped to, say, $20k. Decide what constitutes profits, and how much right he has to look at the books.

Personally, I would ask how much cash he wants to give up all claims, and make it clear that if you can't reach agreement quickly you will simply walk away and abandon it. His choice is something realistic and definite now, versus nothing.

[jacquesm]

get rid of co-founder, create a new project and try again.

You should iron this kind of issue out long before you start approaching people for capital, it is a recipe for disaster.

Also, most VC's are pretty savvy in picking up a significant difference in motivation between co-founders and it is a very big red flag for them to invest in you.

Get out while you can.

[pclark → jacquesm]

sure, wouldn't dream of going to anyone as is (unless it was solo, which I imagine would be futile)

was just curious if people had encountered this kind of issue, it's a big deal, but it isn't like all the work/money I've put in has gone to waste ... the product, the contacts and what I've learnt is still rocking. I'll have to ensure the current co-founder is willing to walk away and won't be a pest in future (I doubt that'll be an issue)

[jacquesm → pclark]

I've seen this happen a couple of times. I think one of the easiest mistakes to make in business is to partner with people that do not have the same motiviations / work ethic as you do. That means that from day 1 your goals are mis-aligned, eventually this will result in some sort of split.

That split may go well or bad, but it's a toss-up, and because of that something that you'd do best to avoid.

I've learned this the hard way myself, and since then I've only partnered with people once I had verified that our goals were suitably aligned. It's amazing how much friction and irritation you can avoid that way.

Think of it as a budgeting problem, the more of the budget you can allocate to productive stuff the more likely you are to succeed, friction between partners can eat up an enormous amount of that budget.

[alecthomas → pclark]

I can't link to the article from my iPhone, but do a search for "startup forgotten founders" for some very useful advice on handling this situation.

[jacquesm → alecthomas]

this one ?

http://allensblog.typepad.com/allens_blog/2005/08/the_proble...

[danielrhodes]

If your co-founder is showing such resistance, it's probably futile. It's an issue of mindset rather than actual risks. Even if you're able to get him to join you now, the issue will probably come up again when things get even harder (because they will).

[pclark → danielrhodes]

thanks, I'll have to start looking for a good developer guy who wants this kind of life! I think having a product, an exec summary and an open mind to developers will make it appealing ... maybe