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Ask HN: How to release co-founders?
We started the company as three friends but they have made it clear to me it is just a project or hobby to them. I've also done 80% of the work. How should I handle this?
- redtexture 13y agoWhat are your previous agreements or understandings, even if unwritten? Is there an entity, or are you solely individuals collaborating? Are they willing to let you own their contributions? Might you work together again on other projects?
- ycmike 13y agoYeah I don't think so. They are just not that motivated and I am. We have not incorporated so I don't know if that is a good or bad thing.
- redtexture 13y agoOK. It appears that there was no corporation that your work was contributed to. The personal intellectual contributions of your partner-founders are the assets to discuss, and that you will desire to have fully released to you to use going forward. If they are done with the idea, a conversation about the value or worthwhileness of releasing their contributions to you is appropriate. Those initial contributions are not worth much if they cannot do the really hard work of making the idea live, sustainable, and perhaps completely changed by later understandings about finding your audience of paying users. The concept is "ideas are cheap--implementation and the people committed to the implementation are everything". If there were a corporation, and employment agreements stating that the work and IP became the property of the corp., the conversation would be about ownership or vesting and non-vesting of the departing founder's shares in the corp. Early departing founders get nearly nothing. It is typical in venture funded startups for the funders to to demand that founder's stock vest over several years so that the startup is not controlled or excessively influenced by (subsequently) departed and non-contributing founders. You have now met the reasons for this kind of arrangement.
- ycmike 13y agoThanks. I totally agree and will share so with them. Execution is everything and we were so early that no agreements were made. I also do think it would be wise to get their leave in writing. You don't want a founder to come back later if the venture was in any way successful.
- redtexture 13y agoWords including ideas such as "release all interest in copyright, trademark, and business methods and business ideas in relation to project X to person Y" are part of your conversation. If your partners were to receive even 5% in total, of the resulting follow-on entity would be a very large amount (if they even received anything).
- ycmike 13y agoOn it!
- j45 13y agoWhat is your goal? Ask them to move on? Will you pay them for their 20% (in your estimation)
- ycmike 13y agoMy goal is to build build a great company that makes housing easy for students. They don't buy into the scope and hard work involved. I think compensation for their 20% is fair but we have not even incorporated yet?
- lancewiggs 13y agoWrite down as a group what needs to be done next, and who will/can do it. Then agree on an equitable split of equity considering dollars time and expertise committed going forward. Think of it as a round of finance where sweat is valued more than dollars.
- ycmike 13y agoIs this the same if we have not incorporated yet? Right now we are three guys in college working on a "project". I just treat it as more than a project.
- lancewiggs 13y agoYes - exactly the same. It's really important in either case to get expectations of what you will do and who gets what actually written down, even if in email form.
- runjake 13y agoMaybe talk to them now, since this probably should have been asked anonymously and it was easy to track down who your co-founders are (unless this whole thing is a "growth hack" scheme)?
- ycmike 13y agoHaha I wish I was that smart! An ironic thing is that they are so non-technical they have no idea what Hacker News is and will never know about this post. But yes, I do need to talk with them and just be frank.