When I started this relationship I thought exactly as you did. How lucky am I? But instead we’re just spinning our wheels on things like creating the perfectly

When I started this relationship I thought exactly as you did. How lucky am I? But instead we’re just spinning our wheels on things like creating the perfectly scalable database design before talking to a single customer. I too thought I was collaborating with someone with a great track record. But he doesn’t care about any of my ideas or contributions. He’s not a bad person. It’s all noise to him because the sound of his own ideas is so much louder in his brain. Even if I implement one of his ideas, overnight, he’s not interested. Once, I put my foot down and said we have to ship something and he was taken aback. For a few minutes. Then he rolled right back into his usual mode of ideation. I understand why this story might seem really frustrating to hear and you wonder why I can’t make it work. I’ve been asking myself the same questions. In the end the economic balance may be too tilted in his favor for it to be a productive collaboration. This is a hobby for him and a lifeline for me. He‘a shooting for something that gets him into a different comma club, and gains the respect of people even richer than he is. So for him, any amount of preplanning is justifiable. I’d be happy with something that just had customers. If we were economic equals I could credibly threaten to walk away if we don’t do at least some of the things my way. But I can’t.