Ask HN: How to deal with lazy cofounder?

7 points by mistircek 14 years ago | 11 comments

Hi everyone,

We're a small startup of two. Lately, I found my colleague is working less and less. The code he writes is mostly buggy and undocumented. Even the unit tests are not working; so when we run them, we thought something was wrong but then saw the problem was in the unit tests themselves.

I don't want to micromanage, I don't want to be a bitch, but I also do not want to be the only one working in the company, or to see collapse of our hard work.

Is there any way to deal with this, or is there anyone who've been in a similar position?

bub 14 years ago |

Talk to your partner. Communicate with him. Start with a positive, and then explain the issues patiently and with respect. Any relationship is dependent on good communication, and a business relationship is no different!

waivej 14 years ago |

I have seen something similar and it didn't end well. Though the partners brought very different things to the table. People also invest energy in cycles so it could just be "founders doubt" or "burnout".

Make sure you are both still having fun...and use all of the lessons you can from dating and marriage. This could be like the business version of "seven year itch".

waivej 14 years ago |

Have the difficult conversation now before you have "kids".

tablet 14 years ago |

When we started a product, we agreed to split shares according time spent on the product. For example, I worked about 40 hrs per week (we all had another (main) job initially), but other 3 people worked ~10 hrs per week. So in the end I had higher stake.

If you both work full-time, this strategy will not help. However, you can find a measure of value. Maybe your partner is good at something else, like promotion and marketing. Then you should discuss responsibilities and maybe he can do some smaller features, but will focus on something else. If that will not work, I think you just can't keep work together, that will be a waste of time and a road to failure.

paulhauggis 14 years ago |

Just be honest with him. Tell him your concerns without sounding like you are attacking him.

If you let this sit, you will only resent him in the future, which is not the basis for a healthy relationship. It will most likely end in disaster.

breathesalt 14 years ago |

It could be a motivation issue if it was a decline in work quality. If you're like most startups, and you're not profitable right now, it's important to quickly become profitable. Having a constant stream of real validation of your business's value is very important--make sure you're making the right product. Otherwise, there's no shame in pivoting or dropping the dead weight--but in my opinion that's like firing a canary because it stopped chirping.

codeonfire 14 years ago |

Are you writing code yourself or are you 'non-technical'? Founders don't 'manage' other founders. You sound like a non-technical who has some idealized view of how software is made.

mistircek 14 years ago | |

I'm writing the code myself, how I could get the code is undocumented otherwise?

That's what I'm saying too, I don't want to "manage" but he's being actually lazy.

AznHisoka 14 years ago |

Get the heck out. You shouldn't have to micromanage him. If he doesn't have the self discipline and mentality, he's not meant to be in the game.

vonsydov 14 years ago |

get rid of him asap

Mz 14 years ago |

I guess it depends in part on how strong your relatiomship is and how feasible it is to determine what the root causes are and effectively address them. Due to my undiagnosed health issues, I was always accused of laziness as a child. I found it an unfair accusation and was very frustrated. Because of that, I was pretty tolerant of the appearance of laziness in one of my children. He and I have been able to resolve underlying issues of various sorts and he seems a lot less lazy these days. Similar issues with his father could not be resolved and we divorced. My relationship to my ex was just not as strong as the one I have with my kids and he was not as willing to look for and resolve the root causes.

Best of luck.