Can any of us be fired? By whom? For what reasons? Yes, that’s right. Even co-founders can be terminated. Too many people mix the notion of being a shareholder in a startup and having an operating role. These two things should be thought of as somewhat separate and distinct. The company should have a mechanism for gracefully terminating the operating role of a co-founder if that’s the right thing to do. This is often not fun, but should be discussed up front.