Ask HN: My co-founder's lost passion for the company, what do I do?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5268038

by vitaminsgalore • 13 years ago

12 11 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

My co-founder has been having a tough time raising from VCs and we're very quickly running out of runway. However, traction and usability has never been higher -- we are growing pretty rapidly. Our numbers are fantastic, company is growing up and to the right.

Everyone in the company thinks there is potential to be a successful billion dollar company, even with the fierce traction some of our competitors are experiencing - we do not believe that this is a zero sum game.

Our CEO, who is also my co-founder, is now realizing that even if the company is successful, it does not align itself with his long term vision and he thinks the best path is an acquisition so that he can take the team and start a new company.

He's the primary shareholder in the company, but his lack of desire to continue is an issue because we have to depend on him to pitch the current company to VCs so that we may continue growing. If he no longer believes in the company, how can he really convince VCs to invest?

There is resistance to sell and obviously, if the CEO no longer believes in the company - even though it's growing, it doesn't make sense to continue. What are some options out of this mess? What do I do in this case? Who can I talk to?

_kulte• 13 years ago

You're growing like crazy, you could be a billion dollar company, you have fierce traction... IMHO you're either misjudging the situation or your co-founder is crazy.

Also, if you really are growing like crazy, why are you having trouble raising money?

vitaminsgalore3• 13 years ago

That's definitely a possibility. I might be misjudging the situation.

The feedback we've been receiving is that VCs believe, that even with our growth, we can not beat our competition as they are much more heavily funded and have a lot of mindshare at the moment.

However, even with insane growth, if your CEO does not pitch with conviction, he will not convince a VC to invest. It's as much about passion and conviction than it is just about numbers.

2pasc• 13 years ago

What kind of competition are we talking about?

salahxanadu• 13 years ago

Is this CEO making enough to get by on?

Often founder fatigue hits hardest when there is little money to do anything but try to recoup. Can he get a raise to increase his interest?

lsc• 13 years ago

eh, the problems with looking at growth percentage is that the starting number? matters. I mean, a company that goes from $10,000 in year one to $14,000 the next year; sure, that's a lot of /growth/ but it's still years away from being self-supporting or likely to generate interest.

I know this because I spent... years in that zone. 40% year over year growth is easy when your revenue is that low, and is no indication that growth will continue once the company starts earning more revenue than the company would make if it just contracted out the engineering team to a profitable company.

dkersten• 13 years ago

I'm sorry, I don't know the answers to your questions.

he thinks the best path is an acquisition so that he can take the team and start a new company

Most acquisitions are for the team, so if the company gets acquired, its unlikely that he can take the team to start a new company.

michaelpinto2• 13 years ago

A. You need to talk openly and honestly to the co-founder.

And frankly if you are in a disagreement you need to have constructive suggestions rather than abstract disagreements like "you don't have the passion". And yes a statement like "This could be a million dollar company" is wonderful, but it doesn't mean much if you run out of runway. If you're running out of runway is there any revenue coming in? Are there areas you can cut back on? Are there better ways of investing the resources you have left? Maybe the CEO shouldn't be doing the pitching at this point — maybe that's gig goes to another person?

vitaminsgalore3• 13 years ago

Yes, we've 5x'ed our revenue since last year. We're growing at roughly 40% month over month.

michaelpinto2• 13 years ago

If there is revenue coming in and you're running out of runway then if you don't sell something needs to be cut. The only other option is to shift some resources to get someone who just raises VC, or at least does the leg work.

ssylee• 13 years ago

Are you on the same page when it comes to finding ways to bring in revenue?

Ask HN: My co-founder's lost passion for the company, what do I do?

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