Slow Progress with Co-Founder (developer)

AAnonymous ·July 15, 2014 ·4 answers

I have an early stage startup with a co-founder who is the developer. I have a working prototype (self-funded) that is being used and receiving great feedback.

Due to the success of the first app, I decided to find a co-founder to create a 2.0 version that is more appealing & user friendly. My co-founder has the talent and skills to complete the task. We have gotten a lot done (overall) but the time to complete the 2.0 version seems to be taking very long. I am getting impatient and mention to him several times that we need to finish up. He keeps saying yes and does what he can. We both work full-time and work on the 2nd version part-time.

The concern: I have noticed before our weekly meetup, he completes all the requirements a day a head of time. It seems like things are getting done but it’s being dragged out. Too much time is going by. I tell him let’s push it hard, we are almost there, can you finish everything soon and he says yes, but then the next meetup there are still things to do.

I understand coding takes time and can be hard, but my gut says he is slacking.

I can’t let him go because it’s hard finding a new co-founder, we get along, he has the talent and has gotten a lot done so far.

How do I push him without being too insensitive? Do I lock us both in a room for 8 hours each meetup and tell him let’s complete it together?

4 answers from the community

AAnonymous· Jul 15, 2014

It's the nature of every software development project to take longe than was estimated. Plus many projects now rely in 3rd party integrations that can take awhile.

Instead of taking your frustration out and making things worse why don't you try and be as helpful as you can? Maybe find a contractor to help or use odesk. Or figure out what features you dont need to launch with.

Anything to speed up the process and strengthen your relationship will give you a Better chance to succeed.

AAnonymous· Jul 15, 2014

I recommend the 8 hour work day-putting a saturday aside for you both to work on the startup. If he doesn't make headway in that time frame-he may just not be that passionate about building it.

Also, offer to hire another developer. Sometimes even having a junior developer straight out of a dev boot camp can be a big assistance

AAnonymous· Jul 15, 2014

Start looking for more partners. If its taking this long for 2.0 can you handle this for 3.0 and beyond. Also are you giving shares or percentage? If you used shares you could have it performanced based. But it looks like your going to have to take time and find another coder if he doesn't ship up.

AAnonymous· Aug 20, 2014

This may simply be a perceptual error. I may be wrong, but I have also noticced this.

As a founder you tend to peer further down the horizon. Your developer's vision is aimed at day to day completion of tasks. As a result you may feel he is slower than you expect.

This may not be true. You may simply have to adjust the gap between your expectations and reality. In fact, slowing down may actually turn out to be a saving grace, because you allow reality to catch up with your vision.

Slow Progress with Co-Founder (developer)

4 answers from the community

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