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How We Secretly Lose Control of Our Startups
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The Evolution of Entry Level Workers
Assume Everyone Will Leave in Year One
Stop Listening to Investors
Was Mortgaging My Life Worth it?
What's My Startup Worth in an Acquisition?
When Our Ambition is Our Enemy
Are Startups in a "Silent Recession"?
The 5 Types of Startup Funding
What Is Startup Funding?
Do Founders Deserve Their Profit?
Michelle Glauser on Diversity and Inclusion
The Utter STUPIDITY of "Risking it All"
Committees Are Where Progress Goes to Die
More Money (Really Means) More Problems
Why Most Founders Don't Get Rich
Investors will be Obsolete
Why is a Founder so Hard to Replace?
We Can't Grow by Saying "No"
Do People Really Want Me to Succeed?
Is the Problem the Player or the Coach?
Will Investors Bail Me Out?
The Value of Actually Getting Paid
Why do Founders Suck at Asking for Help?
Wait a Minute before Giving Away Equity
You Only Think You Work Hard
SMALL is the New Big — Embracing Efficiency in the Age of AI
The 9 Best Growth Agencies for Startups
This is BOOTSTRAPPED — 3 Strategies to Build Your Startup Without Funding
Never Share Your Net Worth
A Steady Hand in the Middle of the Storm
Risk it All vs Steady Paycheck
How About a Startup that Just Makes Money?
How to Recruit a Rockstar Advisor
Why Having Zero Experience is a Huge Asset
My Competitor Got Funded — Am I Screwed?
The Hidden Treasure of Failed Startups
If It Makes Money, It Makes Sense
Why do VCs Keep Giving Failed Founders Money?
$10K Per Month isn't Just Revenue — It's Life Support
The Ridiculous Spectrum of Investor Feedback
Startup CEOs Aren't Really CEOs
Series A, B, C, D, and E Funding: How It Works
Best Pitch Decks Ever: The Most Successful Fundraising Pitches You Need to Know
When to Raise Funds
Why Aren't Investors Responding to Me?
Should I Regret Not Raising Capital?
Unemployment Cases — Why I LOOOOOVE To Win Them So Much.
How Much to Pay Yourself
Heat-Seeking Missile: WePay’s Journey to Product-Market Fit — Interview with Rich Aberman, Co-Founder of Wepay
The R&D technique for startups: Rip off & Duplicate
Why Some Startups Win.
Chapter #1: First Steps To Validate Your Business Idea
Product Users, Not Ideas, Will Determine Your Startup’s Fate
Drop Your Free Tier
Your Advisors Are Probably Wrong
Growth Isn't Always Good
How to Shut Down Gracefully
How Does My Startup Get Acquired?
Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?
How to Pick the Wrong Co-Founder
Staying Small While Going Big
Investors are NOT on Our Side of the Table
Who am I Really Competing Against?
Why Can't Founders Replace Themselves?
Actually, We Have Plenty of Time
Quitting vs Letting Go
How Startups Actually Get Bought
What if I'm Building the Wrong Product?
Are Founders Driven by Fear or Greed?
Why I'm Either Working or Feeling Guilty
Startup Financial Assumptions
Why Every Kid Should be a Startup Founder
We Only Have to be Right Once
If a Startup Sinks, Founders Go Down With it
Founder Success: We Need a Strict Definition of Personal Success
Is Quiet Quitting a Problem at Startup Companies?
Founder Exits are Hard Work and Good Fortune, Not "Good Luck"
Finalizing Startup Projections
All Founders are Beloved In Good Times
Our Startup Culture of Entitlement
The Bullshit Case for Raising Capital
How do We Manage Our Founder Flaws?
What If my plan for retirement is "never retire"?
Startup Failure is just One Chapter in Founder Life
6 Similarities between Startup Founders and Pro Athletes
All Founders Make Bad Decisions — and That's OK
Startup Board Negotiations: How do I tell the board I need a new deal?
Founder Sacrifice — At What Point Have I Gone Too Far?
Youth Entrepreneurship: Can Middle Schoolers be Founders?
Living the Founder Legend Isn't so Fun
Why Do VC Funded Startups Love "Fake Growth?"
How Should I Share My Wealth with Family?
How Many Deaths Can a Startup Survive?
This is Probably Your Last Success
Why Do We Still Have Full-Time Employees?
The Case Against Full Transparency
Should I Feel Guilty for Failing?
Always Take Money off the Table

How Do I Quit My Own Startup?

Wil Schroter

How Do I Quit My Own Startup?

For some Founders, their "job" at their startup isn't necessarily something they want to keep.

There can be a ton of factors at play, whether it's "I can't afford to do this any longer" or "I'm more passionate about something else."

No matter what the reason, it is, in fact, possible to quit our own startup. There are just some creative ways we need to approach it.

If I quit, who runs this thing?

Depending on the size of the company, there may be quite a few people who are interested in our jobs.

For example, if it's a 10 person company that's doing OK (not great), our CEO job might be something we're totally over but someone else in the company may find it as an incredible opportunity to be the CEO for once.

That same opportunity may come from the outside world, where someone else with fresh legs would jump at the chance to be the CEO. Remember, most people aren't getting CEO opportunities daily, so this is a job search like any other.

I still need money. What happens there?

If we quit, we need to do so with the intention that we're going to replace that income somewhere else.

Which is often a job. If we own the whole company and there is enough money to pay a CEO salary AND a distribution back to us — wonderful. But that's often not the case.

We have to be pragmatic in realizing that if we aren't going to contribute to the company on a go-forward basis, the company probably can't afford to pay us. In that case, we have to rely on the value of our equity as the payoff.

Can anyone prevent me from quitting?

Nope.

We may have some investors that get really upset about it, but in fact, no one can prevent us from walking out the door.

We may have some provisions in our contracts that create some monetary loss (like unvested stock) but beyond that, we're an at-will employee like anyone else.

If it's time to hand ourselves our walking papers, we can absolutely do it. We just need to look at our role like an employment decision where one person steps out, and another person gets recruited back in.

In Case You Missed It

Can I Have a Boss Again? (podcast). As Founders, what happens we're forced into going back to reporting to someone else now that we've tasted the freedom of Founderhood? Wil & Ryan break it down.

When Should Someone Else Run My Company? It's not hard to imagine many startup Founder/CEOs are sitting around wondering "Shouldn't someone else more qualified be better at this job?" The answer is "Yes" — and yet you should probably be the one doing it anyway.

I’m Burnt Out. What Do I Do? When we hit a point of burn out and ignore it, the problem only gets much worse. Let’s take a look at what Founders do to deal with burnout head on.

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