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Ask HN: Cofounder and CTO of a Hardware Startup asking how to leave gracefully

5 points by hippychap 10y ago

Hi HN, I am a Co-Founder and CTO of a hardware startup. We had a seed funding a while ago and the business is good enough to just keep the company running. We are planning to raise next stage of investment: Reasons to leave: 1) My expertise is in a coding, and I joined the team because they lacked it. In initial days, electronics, mechanical and software was split amoung us. But now one of the Co-Founder has shifted to business plans and other to operations. Now I am the only one responsible for the entire mechanical, electronics and software. WHich is not my expertise and my output is very low when doing things out of my expertise. 2)We are working on an outdated product and technology and I am not excited about the work. I am not learning anything new. The product we are trying to develop, is there in industry for about the last 30 years and the market is already dominated by huge companies. We do this just because it was the first product we sold and there are a couple of customers. 3) Non scalability: The product is non scalable and each must be custom made as per the requirement of the client. 4) Co Founders not looking into the future and big growth. They are not aware of what is happening in our domain. One of the cofounder is concentrating in business. He never talks to any of customers. But spends his entire time making business plans to impress a couple of mentors and to possibly raise money.

gus_massa 10y ago
About "2)": Is it possible to identify some common cases. Perhaps a 30% of the orders are very similar and you can make a common superset that is not much bigger that what they want. [Remove the spaces before "2)" ... so the post is easier to read.]
- hippychap 10y ago
  Yeah, that is how we manage now. We have a base model with the essential features. But the clients request customizations to adapt it to their systems. Ironically, purchasing an off the shelf product from the market leader and customizing it would have cost lesser than developing our own entire system. Also the off the shelf systems available in market are having about 3x performance. We still manufacture the same because one of the Co-Founder believes that everything must be built in house and wants the company to be a production company. While I believe the company must be innovative.
CosmicShadow 10y ago
Just tell them straight up, "listen guys, after being in this for awhile I realize this just isn't what I want to be doing. I appreciate the opportunity and learning, but it just doesn't fit with me. Sorry, but I wish you the best of luck" If you really don't believe in it and you don't think it'll go anywhere, if they raise a huge snit and you don't want to deal with drama, you could even offer to give back some shares if any have vested (if they are going to be worth 0 anyway) or you keep them because hey, you worked for them! They don't need to know why you aren't interested or that you think it will fail. If you don't feel comfortable telling them this already, then there is probably a reason for that when it comes to their personalities. If something isn't a fit for you, don't waste your time and energy on it. If you've got these skills, you know you can go elsewhere. Better to leave early then run something that barely works until it fails. Fail fast and learn from it. Maybe other's don't learn as fast, but that is their own fault. Good luck dude.
- hippychap 10y ago
  Thanks for the tips dude.
gigatexal 10y ago
Sounds like you need to iterate and become relevant but if you really want to leave just tell them so and leave.
danm07 10y ago
Wow, that's pretty rough... Sorry to hear that. I had a similar issue - I had to ask one our cofounders to resign and he was one of my best friends. (He started another company that raised conflicts of interest) It was very difficult. Here's what I took away: 1. Be honest with your reasons for leaving: If the fit is not there, it's not there - you can't force these things. It is in the long-term interest of the company to have people that believe in the vision. Anything less will only drag down morale. 2. Be grateful that you had the opportunity to work and learn with them: There's generally two ways to spin these things, "you wasted my time" or "this will be a cherished memory." It's always better to lean towards the latter. 3. Be resolute: If you're bent on leaving, know that this is the outcome walking out of that meeting. Startups are kind of like a band of brothers, it's easy to get guilted into a compromise. An addendum to (3). Lack of communication is a common killer of startups, and it's usually built up over time, eventually leading to an ultimatum (like this). I'm not sure what the relationship between you guys are, but this can be a point of reflection / growth. If you have thoroughly thought this through, and there are no scenarios where you would be willing to stay, then that's fine. But more often then not, the points you bring up are invaluable to your peers - if they are receptive. If it were me, I would bring up these concerns prior to your resignation and see what their reaction is. If you guys don't see eye to eye on these threats, then it's time move on.

5 points by hippychap 10y ago

gus_massa 10y ago

About "2)": Is it possible to identify some common cases. Perhaps a 30% of the orders are very similar and you can make a common superset that is not much bigger that what they want. [Remove the spaces before "2)" ... so the post is easier to read.]

hippychap 10y ago
Yeah, that is how we manage now. We have a base model with the essential features. But the clients request customizations to adapt it to their systems. Ironically, purchasing an off the shelf product from the market leader and customizing it would have cost lesser than developing our own entire system. Also the off the shelf systems available in market are having about 3x performance. We still manufacture the same because one of the Co-Founder believes that everything must be built in house and wants the company to be a production company. While I believe the company must be innovative.

CosmicShadow 10y ago

Just tell them straight up, "listen guys, after being in this for awhile I realize this just isn't what I want to be doing. I appreciate the opportunity and learning, but it just doesn't fit with me. Sorry, but I wish you the best of luck" If you really don't believe in it and you don't think it'll go anywhere, if they raise a huge snit and you don't want to deal with drama, you could even offer to give back some shares if any have vested (if they are going to be worth 0 anyway) or you keep them because hey, you worked for them! They don't need to know why you aren't interested or that you think it will fail. If you don't feel comfortable telling them this already, then there is probably a reason for that when it comes to their personalities. If something isn't a fit for you, don't waste your time and energy on it. If you've got these skills, you know you can go elsewhere. Better to leave early then run something that barely works until it fails. Fail fast and learn from it. Maybe other's don't learn as fast, but that is their own fault. Good luck dude.

hippychap 10y ago
Thanks for the tips dude.

gigatexal 10y ago

Sounds like you need to iterate and become relevant but if you really want to leave just tell them so and leave.

danm07 10y ago

Wow, that's pretty rough... Sorry to hear that. I had a similar issue - I had to ask one our cofounders to resign and he was one of my best friends. (He started another company that raised conflicts of interest) It was very difficult. Here's what I took away: 1. Be honest with your reasons for leaving: If the fit is not there, it's not there - you can't force these things. It is in the long-term interest of the company to have people that believe in the vision. Anything less will only drag down morale. 2. Be grateful that you had the opportunity to work and learn with them: There's generally two ways to spin these things, "you wasted my time" or "this will be a cherished memory." It's always better to lean towards the latter. 3. Be resolute: If you're bent on leaving, know that this is the outcome walking out of that meeting. Startups are kind of like a band of brothers, it's easy to get guilted into a compromise. An addendum to (3). Lack of communication is a common killer of startups, and it's usually built up over time, eventually leading to an ultimatum (like this). I'm not sure what the relationship between you guys are, but this can be a point of reflection / growth. If you have thoroughly thought this through, and there are no scenarios where you would be willing to stay, then that's fine. But more often then not, the points you bring up are invaluable to your peers - if they are receptive. If it were me, I would bring up these concerns prior to your resignation and see what their reaction is. If you guys don't see eye to eye on these threats, then it's time move on.