Kyle
This was a community submitted startup dilemma of the week. However, as you can imagine from the headline, this startup wants to remain anonymous. You can submit your startup dilemma of the week to startups@nibletz.com and we’ll put it on our startup dilemma of the week segment with justdecide.com. Also the names have been changed to go with the anonymity.
John and David were best friends since the 8th grade. The two of them were for the most part inseparable as kids. They went to the same high school and then onto the same college. In fact they married two girls that were best friends as well. As kids in middle school, high school and then college the two of them had several business ideas, some even amounted to schemes to make money. They were able to find little “lemonade stand” businesses that helped them get through college.
Everything was going great in their lives. Then, a year after the two married their girlfriends (who were also best friends), John and a friend of his from computer science classes at their college came up with a great idea for a startup. It’s a new web platform/mobile app startup that has little competition. In fact it’s a great idea.
David was never very technical he was always the “money” guy and the guy with the schemes that helped them get through college. As John’s best friend though, he made what some might consider a fatal startup mistake and told him he could be a co-founder. David would be the “biz dev” guy.
They both liked the idea but because of his day job, new interests and new married life, and because he didn’t entirely understand the concept, David didn’t contribute much to the startup. While John and the other co-founder put up $20,000 of their own money raised from their parents and relatives, David only put in $5,000.
Now John senses something needs to be done.
The startup is about ready to go to market but they made another fatal error that may work in John’s favor. They havent yet formalized their company, nor have they done a true operating agreement. John and the other co-founder, we can call him Chip, are ready to move forward and roll out the product without David as a co-founder, or an employee.
John and Chip are concerned that if they make the move to get rid of David he will sabotage their work. He may actually sabotage the product itself or damage their reputations through social media. David was always a little more popular than John and has a sizable social media presence.
Now, John and Chip are stuck. They admittedly haven’t pulled the trigger to get rid of David out of fear. It seems like the most logical step to take.
John is of course worried about his friendship with David and the fact that the two wives are best friends as well. Aside from the obvious missteps they’ve taken along the way, what should they do?
You can weigh in at the startup dilemma of the week here. John and Chip need our help!
