Maybe he is telling you the truth, but you are a founder, he is a CTO. Maybe it is just a simple case if you are currently contributing code to the idea to step

Maybe he is telling you the truth, but you are a founder, he is a CTO. Maybe it is just a simple case if you are currently contributing code to the idea to step back and let this other guy handle the coding aspect for you. Maybe you can better spend your time as a co-founder elsewhere in your company. Having said that, if he is forcefully advising you to leave, he is overstepping his boundaries and you need to contain that fire now before he starts turning other employees against you. A toxic employee in a company is like a cancer, it will start in one area and if not treated, it will spread throughout every orifice in your body until it kills you. If it is a simple matter of you're making it hard for the CTO to do his job because you're committing code and continually breaking things, maybe you need to step back and let him do his job. He can't force you out of your own company, but he might have enough collateral (if he is truly instrumental in your company's success) to get other people to listen to him and force them to make a decision. The CTO is either brutally honest, he's an asshole or he's gunning for your spot in the company. I would be looking at this from all angles. Don't just assume the CTO is acting alone, for all you know the CEO or your business part is instrumental in his push for you to leave. You're not just an employee, you're a co-founder and you have rights and responsibilities. You're acting like the CTO has already one which will be your downfall. Exercise your rights as a co-founder to fix this. I would seriously fire the CTO. He might have been instrumental in the companies success, but he has overstepped the line. He has gone beyond the point of merely telling someone they're making his job hard, he's asking a co-founder to leave. It's like some manager at Microsoft asking the CEO to step-down, it's just crazy. Get legal advice ASAP. Explore your options, but without-a-doubt, get legal counsel right away before you do anything else. My first question to your lawyer would be: Can I fire the CTO cleanly without recourse?