under normal circumstances, the obvious thing to do (at least in my mind) would be to consider all the wonderful alternatives. but since this is also your baby

under normal circumstances, the obvious thing to do (at least in my mind) would be to consider all the wonderful alternatives. but since this is also your baby, and you have probably poured in lots and lots of your soul into it, i sense this is really your quandary, because it sounds to me that you don't want to go. so once you have that straight in your mind, just divide and conquer all the available options, i can't give you specifics because i don't understand the stakes, but obviously this marketing person/friend of co-founder must go or be relegated to a lower authority or else the culture and quite probably the business will flounder. perhaps finding a different role for this person would be beneficial. things cannot stay as they are, that's for sure. good luck on this and don't let this suck your morale down, it really seems quite the downer, but you need to keep a positive view on things. ultimately, if you don't get the terms that you want then there are always other options, including starting another company.