Why would you exploit your cofounder into performing a disproportionate amount of work?

I didn't exploit the cofounder, I presented them with an opportunity, they were fully aware of the situation. In fact, they were excited about the project, enjoyed the work, and often bragged about it to our friends.

Beyond that, after I told him how to turn the service into a product, I turn something that without me would have had no value after they stopped into something that produced value for years without any major effort from either of us.

EDIT: Truly curious as to the reasoning behind the downvotes and would welcome a comment expressing someone's thoughts on why this comment has received 3+ downvotes.

I believe the reason you're getting downvoted is because of the casual way you reel off how easy it is to found a successful company that you can do it casually, sort of disinterestedly tossing it out of your one limp hand to your co-founding pleb who eagerly grasps at the crumbs of your genius.

In other words, you come off as an arrogant know-it-all.

You, sir, have a way with words.

"I've literally run a startup where I took an opportunity I saw, pitched it to a cofounder, got a single client, cofounder did all the work."

Pretty sure that's why. Also the part where "I told him how to turn the service into a product" is equated with actually doing that work.

Not saying that your contributions weren't important - I wasn't there. Maybe without you getting a client there would've been no business, and maybe your cofounder is super happy with how things turned out, too. But it does read a bit like exploitation, and it definitely raises the question of what things might have looked like if you'd bothered to work as hard as it seems like your cofounder did.

Edit: Also, I think this probably touches a nerve with HN people, many of whom dream of founding their own company and are probably scared of exactly this sort of thing happening to them, but without the happy(?) ending.

You are getting downvoted because you look like someone full of themselves.

You admit you did nothing... and that your cofounder did everything... but you refuse to attribute the success of the startup to your cofounder and instead attribute the success to yourself.

You have the audacity to claim that the startup would have been worthless without you, but ignore the fact it wouldn't even exist without your cofounder.

Plus you quote yourself.

I can't down vote you, but all of the sibling comments mirror my thoughts. To me, your writing comes off as sounding quite arrogant and self-involved.

Perhaps people, and you, are underestimating the difficulty of getting that first big client.

As someone working on getting rid of a cofounder like yourself, where I did all the work and they sat on the sidelines until they saw a product and then decided to reach out to get his share, this shows that you aren't as invested even though you are a cofounder. There's a reason why the "co" is there, because both people are working on founding not one person waiting for the other to do all the work so they can just throw an idea into the bucket every now and then so that they can get a piece of the end result.

because too many people think code=business...