I could start a company without my cofounder. I already have plans to do so, but I won’t use the same business idea or IP. I have a different vision (hence our conflict to start with). I agreed he could keep the IP and I would be free to do something else, in exchange of a ‘buy out’. But after 6months of negation he kept adding new terms to the buyout and the last one, to which I couldn’t agree, were very restrictive covenants of 24 months. His argument was that he didn’t want to let me use his money to start my own business in competition with him. I could approach the same investors, but with something new, something fresh. The IP is mine, and my plan is to license it to another business at this stage.