Having a relationship among founders melt down is a terrible problem for entrepreneurs. Sometimes founders diverge in their view of the business strategy, but many times they diverge in their appetite for risk. Entrepreneurship is hard work, and it entails risk.
The worst situation for a startup is the “lost founder” problem. A company is started, co-founders are given the same number of founders shares (with no vesting), and then one founder moves on, leaving the other with part ownership and all the responsibility. When the remaining founder tries to raise money, the lost founder becomes a nearly impossible hurdle to overcome. |
