We definitely could have been more efficient, we had a lot to learn. But the biggest problem I see is that we were still quite efficient producing features but not so much validating assumptions and developing customers/users (my stance: "let's go test it now and perhaps make some mistakes publicly but get feedback early", his stance: "it won't work unless we finish feature X, we have to change our business model and implement feature Y to target customers more likely to pay because this awesome guy from this large company I just met says they would pay", my reaction: "ok, sounds reasonable, let's try it." and it of course lead nowhere :) the awesome new guy probably changed his opinion, etc.).
And yeah, I have difficulties with trust maybe in general but I believe I've done my part well enough in this case.
Sorry, but it appears to me to be that he wants as most coding done as possible before he invariable cuts you out of the deal. Going public would mean that you have a kind of partnership and are therefore entitled to equity. By keeping it private, or in a prototype phase, he can keep the number of people who are aware you are working together to a minimum.
I don't know what happened but I know the "awesome new guy" seems to be actually ok and very reasonable. He just fails to see the real point of the project and I think my cofounder is swayed too easily by unfounded opinions of people of a seemingly high status.
I actually don't think my cofounder is that much evil but he is out of touch with reality and refuses to engage in any communication that points it out. And yes, he's protecting his contacts quite hard and quite explicitly at times. Also tries to conceal the real state of things - I found out he got hired by the VC company only indirectly and after asking him a lot.
what kind of a co-founder "protects" his contacts from a fellow co-founder? Dysfunctional relationship at best. Cut him off, take everything you've built and go somewhere else. He's got nothing legal against you.
Then start learning abt VC, meeting people, and cutting deals by yourself. It's not that hard.
> What does he need a lawyer for? You have no agreements, no money, no incorporation.
Maybe it was just his rushed reaction. He probably thinks I owe him continuing cooperation after we've been this long in it together. Maybe he would attack if I took my code and used it. Who knows.
The agreement on equity is 50/50. It's originally my idea and the stuff that's technically interesting in it is mostly my work. I very much doubt he could pull it off just by himself (technically). I'd have more technical chances of success but less business (which is why I chose to work with him).
I made the mistake to work solely on this project and to rely on my savings. Only lately I've started to look around for project to pay the bills and I see fulltime employment as probably the only currently viable way to go (I finished my CS PhD (SemanticWeb) about a year ago and although I do have coding skills and industry experience, it's not enough, I feel I need more experience to do consulting and more networking, etc. to do freelancing).
2) If you can do the technical bits then do it by yourself. Then once you have it all finished you will be the one the VCs will be chasing.
3) I don't know anybody who does consulting/freelancing in the IT industry. You are either a permanent employee or a contractor. You want to get a contracting position where you are doing something low level e.g. fixing bugs or testing websites. That way you will earn tonnes of money and not be stressed from work. Anybody can get into contracting.
2) I will probably try. It's not a technological project though. It's much more Twitter-like rather than nuclear-fusion-like. So the business and execution side is really important. It involves non-trivial technology but it's no rocket science. A similar idea was very popular at a last year's TechCrunch disrupt and I see that the team is still pursuing it...
3) Interesting, that's new for me. But thinking about it actually I probably also know only people who are contracting.. In any case, I have some interesting potential offers that would allow me to learn stuff that I probably wouldn't be able to as a contractor, at least not easily.
1. He's working for the VCs (that's what he calls them I think it's rather a beginning startup accelerator) because they promised to invest in us if he helps them.
2. Well, he's sincerely convinced of his skills. That's part of the problem.
From personal experience, all I can say is absolute trust and strong communication from your cofounder is absolute. You guys lack that and having to address it at all is already a red flag in my book. Given that you brought it up and things still haven't improved, its time to shut down or talk to an attorney to sign him off. Clearly this will not go well in the long run if things don't change.
