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Ask HN: Has anyone quit their startup (VC-backed) over cofounder disagreements?

77 points stuck12345 | 5 comments | 11 Apr 25 16:16 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

hey fam, i'm at a crossroads where i'm considering quitting my startup and taking a job or alternate paths and wanted y'alls opinion.

i've been working on a startup for the past 24 months with my cofounder - i'm technical and she's mostly focused on business side (with basic frontend skills). we got funded roughly 18 months ago for an idea i came up with, was excited about, and found some traction.

since then we pivoted away from it. we've roughly pivoted almost every month to something new. there is no longer any vision or clear problem we're trying to solve. each month is our team simply fishing for ideas in different industries and domains hoping to strike gold.

my cofounder and i don't see eye to eye on most things anymore and the relationship has also deteriorated significantly. my cofounder and i disagree upon what problems to focus on. for her, ideas only resonate if there are competitors who've raised $X million or hit certain revenue targets with no regard for interest or insights for a problem/industry. i'd much rather work on problems where i have some inherent interest and/or urge to solve the problem but it's hard to drive a shared vision between us both. this is a constant point of friction.

after 24 months of working together, i'm now considering quitting my own startup to either go do another one or take a job where i can find problems and a future cofounder. has anyone been through anything similar in the past? how did you navigate this?

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nsypteras ◴[11 Apr 25 17:14 UTC] No.43656158[source]▶
Cofounder splits are extremely common. Cofounder "couples" counselors are a thing you could look into to help resolve your differences. Your VC might have recommendations for one. If you ultimately decide to split, I'd recommend at least one of you (or "the company"?) getting a lawyer to draw up a formal separation agreement you both sign in order to split in the cleanest possible way.
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taw1285 ◴[11 Apr 25 19:56 UTC] No.43657862[source]▶
This is very interesting to me. From this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43472971, I am wondering if there are anecdotal stories of how equity is being handled after a split.

On one hand, if the leaving co-founder retains all equity, it creates a sandbagging situation on a cap table that's no longer useful to the business. On the other hand, it feels right for the leaving co-founder to enjoy some upside for the years they put in.

replies(1): >>43658106 #
tptacek ◴[11 Apr 25 20:21 UTC] No.43658106[source]▶
This problem is what vesting is for.
replies(1): >>43658504 #
1. necubi ◴[11 Apr 25 21:00 UTC] No.43658504{3}[source]▶
Standard 4-year vesting doesn't work well for this situation. A founder leaving a worthless startup with 20% of the equity is a huge problem. The remaining founder will need that equity to offer outsize offers to senior (and eventually C-level) folks to replace them. And it's demoralizing for the remaining founder and team to be working extremely hard to make the company successful, while the departed founder reaps the rewards with no effort.

Opinions will differ here, but I think if you're leaving a pre-PMF startup you've created essentially no durable value, and should return nearly all of your equity.

I've heard of startups doing 10 year vesting for founders (with double trigger) to align this better.

replies(1): >>43659323 #
2. tptacek ◴[11 Apr 25 22:21 UTC] No.43659323[source]▶
I'm sympathetic. We tried to get 10 year vesting together at my last company. But 4/1 is industry standard, and my rebuttal is that partners just bake 4/1 expectations into their decisions. If the partnership is uncertain about a member 6 months in, and kicks the can down the road another 7 months, that's on the partnership, not the structure.
replies(1): >>43684597 #
3. dadrian ◴[14 Apr 25 18:36 UTC] No.43684597[source]▶
If you can't do 10 up front, you can usually reset founder vesting back every funding round to slow it down. This is fairly common.
replies(1): >>43684610 #
4. tptacek ◴[14 Apr 25 18:37 UTC] No.43684610{3}[source]▶
You're counting on one reticent founder not jamming everything up, though.
replies(1): >>43684976 #
5. dadrian ◴[14 Apr 25 19:11 UTC] No.43684976{4}[source]▶
Yeah, but this also offers a clear exit opportunity (during the raise), and limits the "blast radius" to time-since-last-raise, rather than progress against the first four years of the company.