I am the CEO of my startup, and have two co-founders. I hold the most shares among us, but our ownership percentages are fairly close. We have no other employees. One co-founder is only involved part-time because of another job; he has useful connections for our business, but can't contribute much day-to-day. The other one works in the company full-time like me, but needs to be guided through almost everything they do, taking very little initiative to solve problems on their own. I often feel that in the time I spend worrying about whether or not they have accomplished their next important task (and constantly following up with them), I could have just done it myself. Am I better off trying to motivate them to contribute more, or looking for new team members?
I have been involved in many startups, some successful and some not so successful. When a team of founders gets crosswise its a harbinger of real trouble. You can sit down with your cofounders and discuss the problem openly and hope that you can solve the problems by everyone agreeing. However, unless you have un-vested stock, or contracts that require a certain amount of contribution, or some other leverage, you are reduced to mere persuasion without any leverage. If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to get in touch with me.
Answered 9 years ago
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