I was advised once to have the company take out big insurance policies on both of us then encourage him to get a crotch rocket or start free soloing rock climbing.
Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
51–60 of 72 posts
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#52"My co-founder sux. I met a friend, with whom I founded a company. He is the tech guy, I do the sales. Now he is "finished" with the service, but it isn't the quality we need and doesn't have the features our customers want. It's very tough to sell this beast. He always argues that those are the best features and won't implement what customers want as they do not know what they need. He's always comparing his work to…
Guess I should of been more clear. We are a marketing startup. We have contracts with businesses and our product is sold to consumers (average Joe). On the consumer end, everything is perfect. Sales are up and user base is doubling every 2 weeks. Mixed responsibility. (I do customer support, SEO, design, etc and we share marketing ideas) On the business end, we are still stuck with crappy deals: low margins, poor bra…
The first information was that your partner did not perform to your expectation. At the same time I read that half year passed your have not been out at the customer front to see if your business model is viable. Just because comparing to a competitor does not mean your business is in the same situation. The low margins, poor brand is both of your responsibility and can have many reasons.
As a startup founder you are the face of the company and there is no excuse to not talk to customers and close deals. Your are small team and there is no CEO or VP or Sales. It is you and him to close the deals. If you want your company to survive a simple phrase will do, do whatever it takes.
And if you think this is not what you signed up for than follow the advice of many, stop it now and fast.
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#53Identification of the real cause of the problem is your top priority. Rather than some of the suggestions in this thread that would most likely result in an unpleasant ending of your venture I'd suggest that both you and your co-founder seek help from a third party you both trust to give you good advice, and that has relevant experience. Another thing you should do is talk to your customers, and figure out what it is…
Never try to teach a salesman how to sell. This will not end well. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDHRLN66Q2E
Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills.
I've seen guys go from barely able to say hello without getting their tongue tied up to being able to pull in 6 figure deals without breaking a sweat (contract work, web development), I really don't know this guy at all but he's already selling, all he needs to do is to improve what he's already doing.
Going from 'not being a salesguy' to 'being a sales guy' is a lot harder than going from 'being a not so good sales guy' to 'being a salesguy that is a bit better'.
Even an experienced salesperson would have a hard time selling a product he has no experience with, and that has only just been 'baked', they should have overlapped much better with the development but this product seems to be 'all or nothing' so that may have been harder than what we know from the info given. Building up a sales pipeline takes time, and as you sell a couple of times you usually get better at it.
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are working on that now. It might give us more breathing air but still will keep us with a CEO (him) that I cannot trust professionaly.
In a two man company there is no CEO.
Cannot agree more, some of the biggest problems at all stages of start-up life arise from "title-ing" i.e. co-founders giving themselves C-level or VP-Level titles and then trying to act as such.I once was introduced to a three-founder start-up whole all wanted to run the show. They ended up calling themselves Chairman, CEO and Chief Visionary Officer.
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never try to teach a salesman how to sell. This will not end well. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDHRLN66Q2E
Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. I've seen guys go from barely able to say hello without getting their tongue tied up to being able to pull in 6 figure deals without breaking a sweat (contract work, web development), I really don't know this guy at all but he's already selling, all he needs to do is to improve what he's already doing. Going from 'not being a salesguy' to 'being a s…
> Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills.
That's not what I said.
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. I've seen guys go from barely able to say hello without getting their tongue tied up to being able to pull in 6 figure deals without breaking a sweat (contract work, web development), I really don't know this guy at all but he's already selling, all he needs to do is to improve what he's already doing. Going from 'not being a salesguy' to 'being a s…
> Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. That's not what I said.
So, elaborate then because I'm not following you. You say "Never teach a salesman how to sell, this will not end well".
But the guy is already a salesman. So we're not teaching someone to sell that doesn't know how to.
He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ?
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#57Honestly, your title using "sux" makes me wonder if you might be a little difficult to work with. I hate to read too much into one word, but I am just sharing my impression.
I read a neat post today that I think applies (your co-founder is providing poor customer service to you): http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/09/four-strategies-for-respondi...
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#58You are asking about one of my favorites topics (co-founders)... First of all, understand that he needs to quit. When someone is concerned enough that they post online, it means the situation is bad. So ignore any advice on improving his sales skills. It's hard to fire your friends (been there, done that). Depending on your relationship, do it nicely, with transitions. Ideally, you want to have a frank discussion whe…
Yep - this seems like a good case where vesting would have helped.
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. That's not what I said.
So, elaborate then because I'm not following you. You say "Never teach a salesman how to sell, this will not end well". But the guy is already a salesman. So we're not teaching someone to sell that doesn't know how to. He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ?
> He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ?
OK, I didn't realize you were from Netherlands until I read that sentence and clicked on your profile. In English, learning does not imply teaching.
Re: Ask HN: My co-founder sux. What can I do ?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, elaborate then because I'm not following you. You say "Never teach a salesman how to sell, this will not end well". But the guy is already a salesman. So we're not teaching someone to sell that doesn't know how to. He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ?
> He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ? OK, I didn't realize you were from Netherlands until I read that sentence and clicked on your profile. In English, learning does not imply teaching.
Ok. I never even used the word teach in the original piece though...