Ask HN: I discovered my co-founder has a history of sexual harassment

A year ago I started a tech company with a co-founder. We are still stealth, building out some of the core technology. Things have been going smoothly, and we will soon be fundraising.

I discovered through mutual acquaintances that my co-founder has an illustrious history of sexual harassment at his previous places of employment. They are stories not unlike those of the Uber story. Allegedly, my co-founder was never punished, remained rather successful and maintained promotions, but the other parties involved quit or were moved to other departments/teams/etc.

The stories were plausible, not because I suspected this of my co-founder, but because the acquaintances were pretty detailed about events that went down.

I have absolutely no idea what to do in this situation. These events were a few years ago, and I wasn't a part of them. To me, it's also hearsay... but like I said it's plausible. We are far in building out our business, but I'm afraid if I don't address this, it may come back to bite me.

Advice?

You might want to hear his side before taking any action.

Ideally, cofounders should be childhood friends.

Give them a chance to explain, dig into the allegations, and reach your own conclusion. >50% probably true, walk-away.. and if too many other people believe similarly, you should consider walking-away if they're not your long-term friend because your reputation would be at risk as well.

Money isn't worth more than integrity, or the proper maintenance of also seeming to possess integrity as well, unless they can be neutered with a contract.

If you stay and they are confirmed, you may have lashed yourself to a bomb who is more liability than asset. Remember that most startups fall-apart because of founder squabbles, and some loose-cannon founder acting like they're out of the 1950's causing 2020's HR problems without an HR department, which is probably going to fall on your head to make right. So don't do that.

One consideration is to make them sign a contract that they forfeit all of their current and future vestable equity to the other founders equally if they are found to engage in such substantiated behavior with employees. If they are so great and necessary to success, reign them in and manage them wisely.