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Ask HN: How to fire your Co-founder?

• hluska 8y ago
  First, if you've had good outcomes on your businesses with this person, are you really sure that you want to pull out the fire hammer? The problem with the fire hammer is that you're almost certainly going to kill off the relationship and run a serious risk of poisoning a large part of your shared network. For example, you raised $120k, which makes me think you both have a relationship with the investor(s) involved. What could that fallout really look like? You've had good outcomes on your businesses, which tells me that the two of you can work very well together. Second, really think about the kinds of phrases that you use in this. Consider phrases like this: - He's not being able to catch up. - I can't waste more time. - Should I wait until December? - He's very good for areas that the company doesn't need now. Are you sure that the problem isn't you? First, you started a company with someone knowing it was outside of his comfort zone and that his skills would be most valuable in two years. Are you sure you want to fire someone because you made a poor choice? Honestly, you sound like you're lacking empathy. Part of founding a company with someone is having a level of empathy towards that person. Without empathy towards a co-founder, there's no way that you'll be able to identify with customers or employees enough to build something special. As well, do you mostly communicate in writing? If so, is it possible that he just doesn't understand what you're saying? Again, I'm not trying to offend you, but your writing is hard to follow. Third, this should go without saying, but don't fire anyone in December. That's just a colossal dick move.
  • jondoefounder 8y ago
    Thanks Hluska, I'm aware I lack of empathy, it's a flaw I have that I've been working on. We communicate over the phone or in-person meetings, I understand that my english is not flawless, so what you mentioned it's not an issue. If it's my fault? Off course it is, but that doesn't mean that once I realize I made a mistake I can't do something to change that. On the other hand, he was aware when we started to work on this that many things were going to be out of our comfort zone and that we need to learn every day, that's what you do in a startup. The problem starts when you just don't want to do something because you don't like it and you try to find a magical solution to all of your problems. About the investors, yes they invested on us based on our track record, I'm sure they'll understand the problem we're going trough now, they are smart people. We also talked about this issue before with them. I have to rephrase, the goal it's not to fire him, but to change the equity structure and his role on the company. If at the end he prefers to leave, that's not ideal, but it'll be ok. Thanks for the feedback! I'll put my effort on communicating everything with emphaty, I don't want to ruin the relationship with my co-founder because I know he's a good person and that he will be very useful for the company in a near future.
• jjk166 8y ago
  Unless you specified how to do so in your operating agreement (in which case you wouldn't be asking us) you can't fire a co-founder. Either he can leave of his own volition, or you can. I'm going to assume what you mean is "how do I convince my cofounder to leave?" While you say that your co-founder lacks the skills you need right now, you also say he has skills that will be valuable in the future, plus the fact that you are worried about losing his contribution during the busy season implies that he does make some contribution right now significant enough to worry about losing. You clearly need to bring someone else on so that you have the skills you need (no sense in trying to fit a square peg into a round hole), but that doesn't automatically mean you need to get rid of your current cofounder. It sounds like the startup is generally healthy and you are just reaching the point where you need to expand. This expansion may require raising more money or tightening your belts, but I would not throw away a proven good partner if there were another viable option. It's not necessarily unfair to ask him to tighten his belt more than you, though I would hesitate to adopt the mindset that it's his fault you need to expand. Now if the problem isn't that your co-founder lacks the ability to do what the startup needs but rather is refusing to do what the startup needs, that's a different situation. I imagine this isn't a personality issue if you've worked together well before, more likely you just have different visions for what the startup needs. In such cases, it's good to have some third party to talk to, such as your investors or any advisors your company may have. It's easy to disagree with someone, it's very tough to disagree with everyone. At the same time though, instead of going in with the intention of forcing him to see things your way, look to understand his vision and consider modifying your own to an acceptable compromise between the two.
  • jondoefounder 8y ago
    He agrees on what we need to do, but he's just not following through. It's not about results it's about doing what we said we have to do in a reasonable time and also about overdelivering, you're not an employee that has to do what the job description says. I totally agree about "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole", right now I might be a little pissed off because I'm doing all the hard work and he's on the passenger seat enjoying the view. We do need to expand the team, but there are many things that the co-founder has to manage by himself on an early stage. I plan to include a 3rd party like an advisor or an investor that knows both of us. Thanks for your comments! This really helps guys.