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

77 points stuck12345 | 1 comments | 11 Apr 25 16:16 UTC | HN request time: 2.285s | 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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fzwang ◴[11 Apr 25 17:31 UTC] No.43656317[source]▶
I used to work in VC and have seen a few examples of this. Every case is a little different, but from what you've described I'd focus on salvaging the co-founder relationship. Conflict like this is totally normal. IMO, a pivot is when you change directions based on new information. It sounds like you're not pivoting, but lost. If you haven't already, addressing this head-on and having a candid conversation about being lost would be beneficial. Think of it as an exercise to possibly strengthen your relationship via conflict. Few other thoughts:

1. At this early stage of the business, the core asset is really the co-founding team and their relationship. Conflict is very much normal, but how you resolve it is important. You should be able to articulate your co-founder's concerns. For ex. she might feel the pressure to show "progress" to your investors.

2. It takes a lot of time and energy to build a good working relationship. Moving onto something else might seem like a good idea at the moment, but you could be right back with the same issue with another co-founder.

3. If you do decide to move on, end the relationship as amicably as you can. Note that this is not necessarily the "quickest" route, but it'll help keep your reputation intact.

Edit: spelling.

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willseth ◴[11 Apr 25 18:18 UTC] No.43656754[source]▶
100%. This is an opportunity to lead, not walk away. Maybe he still fails, but it's a valuable learning experience either way and a much better story to tell assuming he wants to found another company. Conversely, walking away in frustration will be a red flag for many investors.
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ra0x3 ◴[11 Apr 25 19:53 UTC] No.43657816[source]▶
OP seems trapped between a rock and a hard place. Doesn't seem bought in, not having a good co-founder relationship (a recipe for failure). But walking away would be a HUGE red flag for his future. I don't envy OP's position.
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necubi ◴[11 Apr 25 20:47 UTC] No.43658362[source]▶
It's really not a huge red flag. Co-founder breakups are incredibly common. In this case the company is also flailing and has been likely written off by their investors, so they're not going to care.

Something I've learned doing a startup and talking to a lot of other startup founders is that one of the biggest risks is sticking around for too long just because there's still money in the bank. Your most precious resource is time, and if it's pivot-hell for 18 months you're well into sunk-cost land.

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willseth ◴[11 Apr 25 23:38 UTC] No.43659883[source]▶
If he wants to found another company he will need to pitch to investors and will be thoroughly interrogated about his experience before they will consider giving him money, and it’s a lot harder to sell a backstory where you bailed on your last startup.
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1. notahacker ◴[12 Apr 25 11:40 UTC] No.43663539[source]▶
A backstory where he explains dispassionately that after repeatedly unsuccessfully pivoting into industries neither of them understood, he came to the conclusion his cofounder wasn't learning from these mistakes and he needed to take a different approach even if it meant starting again with nothing doesn't sound any harder to sell than a backstory where he explains the rationale behind pursuing four more pivots he didn't believe in before running out of money. Also sounds like a situation where his existing investors have probably written off the money and may even agree with his perspective on the pivots.

Bailing from a startup with significant traction or bailing when it's too early to tell could be much harder to explain away, but it doesn't sound like that's the problem here...