Re:Ask HN: My co-founder and I want to split, what to do?
by mchannon on Thursday August 03, 2017 @10:07AM
(#14919668)
Investors prefer a team that can execute. Less so, half a team that didn't get along with its former co-half. After the split, attracting investment may become more difficult.
I suggest considering an nth option: split the baby.
Can your startup be split into two business lines? One that focuses on enterprise, one on consumer? Commit to noncompetition for say, 3 years. Everybody happy because they're apart.
Finally, an n+1'th option: seal up the business as an IP enterprise, licensing what you've already built to both founders' new ventures. Evenly split the licensing fees. Agree on a licensing structure open to both founders, where it only eats up about 10% of the expected margin, and realize that 5% is pretty much going right back to where it started. Throw on a shotgun clause.
The odds say at least one of your new ventures will fail- this will allow survival of the fittest from an otherwise nasty divorce.
I suggest considering an nth option: split the baby.
Can your startup be split into two business lines? One that focuses on enterprise, one on consumer? Commit to noncompetition for say, 3 years. Everybody happy because they're apart.
Finally, an n+1'th option: seal up the business as an IP enterprise, licensing what you've already built to both founders' new ventures. Evenly split the licensing fees. Agree on a licensing structure open to both founders, where it only eats up about 10% of the expected margin, and realize that 5% is pretty much going right back to where it started. Throw on a shotgun clause.
The odds say at least one of your new ventures will fail- this will allow survival of the fittest from an otherwise nasty divorce.