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Ask HN: what disputes can arise between co-founders?
I am wondering about disputes that can arise between co-founders.
Founders can begin as friends but end-up sacrificing this in the process of starting-up.
Specifically, I'm thinking about conflicts that can arise between remote cofounders.
But generally, what are the serious or common disputes to think about that can be avoided or resolved?
Ideally, would only one founder with hired staff that have equity bonuses for retention be best?
- wheels 17y agoThat's kind of like asking, "What disputes can arise in a long-distance relationship?" It's naturally a pretty open question. In general, I don't think doing the whole remote-founders thing is a good idea for the same reason that it's probably not a good idea in a long term relationship. There are just too many points that you need to be able to sync up on. When you get into a startup, just like a relationship, you enter with a picture of a person that hasn't been through the full-on trial-by-fire. When you turn up the pressure and leave it that way for an extended period of time, cracks in that picture always start to emerge.
- adrianwaj 17y agoRight, echoes with this thread: "..The number one thing that caused the unsuccessful companies to fail was fights between the co-founders. And the successful ones-- were ones where the co-founders were very harmonious, because they had worked together for years before founding the company (multiple instances of this.) Of course, there were also instances where co-founders had worked before and they still fought all the time.." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=77246 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=77246 (94 points) thanks
- jacquesm 17y agoThe most common one is about whether or not the other parties are pulling their weight (because you can't see when / if they are working), and decisions regarding the direction to take.
- JangoSteve 17y agoI would say they always come in two varieties: a) disagreements on some future action, methodology, goals, etc., and b) disagreements on past action (e.g. is the other person pulling their weight, being effective, etc). And of course, the latter usually leads to the former, because once you're convinced the other person isn't pulling their weight, you have to figure out what to do about it. Beyond that, it's hard to say exactly what you'll find to disagree on. But don't worry, you'll definitely find something to disagree on. In fact, if you never disagree on anything, then you're probably missing out on all of the advantages of having a cofounder as well.