Parting Ways With Your Co-founder: Be Kind.
One of the hardest thing for founders is to part ways with a co-founder or founding team member. The early days when we put together a great plan and we start to build the product, see the team grow and define the vision behind it all are paramount and powerful. The camaraderies that develop during that time are strong and hard to break.
Being a founder is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and is not an easy job. Like Gary Vaynerchuk said “being an entrepreneur isn’t a skill that is developable” As founders we have to do what is right for the business and that often conflicts with what is right for us as people at the heart of it.
One of our founders while working on our last project did great work, in engineering the product. But as we started to get some attention our then co-founder couldn’t commit and said “I’m not a founder.” At that point my co-founder and I were faced with a very crucial decision to make.
How can you part ways with someone who was impactful and gave so much of himself, invested so much time into getting the initial idea off the ground. What message does it send? How can I say thank you, but we’re moving on?
But we have to do it as founders. What works when you are three people does not work when you’re seventeen or more. Best of us in any field are rarely great team players, top developers are rarely the top communicators or managers. When you realize that you have to do it, you MUST act. Don’t procrastinate. Be grateful for their work that helped you get where you are.
Looking back at our most incredible moments together almost every single time we always knew this my co-founder and I this feeling that we wouldn’t see the growth stage together. It’s almost inevitable.
If you are starting a company, understand that you will face this moment at some point and I integrated this building our new venture Frontdoor. Remember that if it is something you have to deal with the longer you wait the slower you move. If you have advisors like we have ask them for advice it’s nothing more than a sign of strength from you. Do it Respectfully, do it well. Be Human. This matters A LOT!
alainkapatashungu
founder of frontdoor.
