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

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.