Ask HN: I constantly have to push/nag my cofounder to work. What should I do?

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Ask HN: I constantly have to push/nag my cofounder to work. What should I do?

Hi HN readers,

I co-founded a startup with a Surgeon a few years ago.

Me: technical cofounder Surgeon: domain expert and desire to help sell the product

We started this as a side project so we landed on 50/50 equity split. Fast forward 2 months and I decided to go full time since it had some legs.

I struggle to work with him because I pour my heart and soul into the company while he seems like a consultant. I always have to give him tasks and constantly remind (nag) him of them.

Typical flow would go like this:

Him: “I’ll get it done tonight” (radio silence) Me: check-in Him: “(insert random excuse)” (completes task 1-7 days later. Most of the time it is half assed and rushed)

He just seems to prioritize everything over the company. He offered to quit his job and work full time if we raise $1M and pay him $500k/yr and offered me the same salary. I quickly rejected this because that’s not how this world works.

We had a long talk early this year where I laid out all of my issues and concerns. He decided to show his commitment by taking 1 day off of work to help sell the new software and work on product development. He immediately asked for the same salary as me, (60k) and I explained to him 1 day does not equal 5-7 days. We settled on $1k/mo for him.

Week 1: 10 phone calls. Sent 12 emails to hot leads. Week 2: 1 webinar. 6 phone calls. 12 emails. Week 4: he was back at work 5 days a week and never told me.

Definitely doesn’t seem like a great use of 8 hour days. Fast forward to today, still painful, his word means nothing to me, deadlines skipped, etc.

After talking to a few friends, here are some options:

1. Threaten to leave 2. Use our users/investors (surgeons) as the domain experts and ignore him. 3. Shutdown the company and start a competing company

(Currently, he is our “CEO” which is funny considering he is not even part-time)

Thanks HN!

Discussion 7 comments · 12 points · throw03172019 · 2019-03-18
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