A startup founder is facing a dispute with their cofounder over equity split. The cofounder, initially hired as an intern and later promoted to cofounder with a 60/40 split, now demands a 50/50 split just before a crucial VC meeting. This situation is complicated by the cofounder's past underperformance and lack of full-time commitment, despite assurances given to potential investors.
This dispute can lead to tension and mistrust between the founders, potentially affecting the startup's stability and growth. It also poses a risk to the upcoming VC investment, as the cofounder's commitment and role within the company are questioned.
Pain Points
- Dispute over equity split between founders
- Cofounder's lack of full-time commitment
- Cofounder's past underperformance and lack of initiative
- Potential risk to VC investment due to internal disputes
- Stress and tension affecting the founder's ability to focus on the startup
our split has been 60/40. we've incorporated with this structure also. a vc who'll potentially lead our seed round is meeting us a few days from now for their verdict (and we're feeling good about this since we've cleared dd) and my co-founder suddenly wants a 50/50 split. so a little bit about me: i founded our startup, later hired her as an intern initially, then promoted her to cofounder role. i dropped out to go full-time and she was supposed to drop out too but her family wouldn't let her. i managed to raised pre-seed funding and hid the fact that she's not full time, but even moths after she's refusing to drop out when we've both sworn to vcs that we have. about our dynamic: i fundraise, handle product, ui/ux, customer support, and spearhead tech (we have a founding engineer now). basically i handle everything else while she does marketing. she got us to go viral from time to time on tiktok. we're also both girls, and are based in asia, where startups, and dropouts are not the norm. now that she's graduating in a few days, she called me and told me she was asked by her dad what she'll do. and she decided she'll work "seriously" on the company, have systems in place, and believes that she'll get the startup to blow up even more. she also raised a concern how she "accidentally" designed herself to be dependent on my cues with the 60/40 split hanging over us. she said that the 60/40 was justifiable at first because i was bootstrapping the company for more than a year and to honor that the company started with me, but now she believes a 50/50 would be a good fit because we're already paid for our prior expenses, "she'll work work on this more seriously". and she also felt like she always had to conform to my decisions (although she never really challenged my decisions so i had no idea + i'd ask her thoughts about them too). prior this, i've raised a lot of concerns about her underperformance. when i promoted her to co-founder role, i've forgiven a lot: hiding that she's been juggling other internships, being days late with tasks assigned to her that could've taken her 10 mins, lack of initiative, no routine in her work, and doesn't go out of her shell to try new things (because what she's doing works already), working when she feels like it. she's also always had hobbies and family matters outside of work that i couldn't separate her from. she called me after being in a hiatus for a week. thoughts on a 50/50 split?