An approach that I just took with my underperforming cofounder was to give him a week trial to prove himself. The goal wasn't to actually get him to prove himse

An approach that I just took with my underperforming cofounder was to give him a week trial to prove himself. The goal wasn't to actually get him to prove himself, but rather to show him that he no longer was a good fit so he could make the decision himself. On Friday, I said the following: "I'm concerned that something is seriously affecting your ability to be productive with this startup. You and I both know that you aren't accomplishing what you're capable of. So instead of letting this grow into a problem I wanted to talk about it and see how I can help. I'm also afraid I haven't communicated my expectations reasonably. I'm sure you can understand my concern since this our entire lives right now. I don't want you to feel like you're trapped or forced to do something that you're not interested in. You know by now that doing a startup takes more than a 100% dedication. If you feel like you have lost some passion for it, then I want you to pursue what you are 100% passionate for. I won't have any problem at all because I know how hard it is to feel like you would be letting someone down. If I'm completely mistaken, then I want to be clear about my expectations and give you a week to make sure that you want to pursue this. [Outline expectations]. This is a decision I can't make for you, so I want you to think about it and starting Monday you can start to see if you're still interested." On Sunday night, he resigned without me having to "fire" him.