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Ask HN: Handling a broken 50/50 co-founder relationship after hitting $1M revenue
50radar
Revenue can hide a dead co-founder relationship until customers, staff, and cash all break at once. A 50/50 split without clear accountability or a removal path turns ops debt into existential risk.
- The company reached $1M+ in annual revenue, but one founder reportedly stopped doing core technical work after launch; hype covered the gap only temporarily.
- Customer complaints were handled with polished deflection instead of fixes, which pushed support damage onto the other founder and weakened trust.
- Talented direct reports openly wanted out, showing founder dysfunction spreads fast from product delay to team retention.
- With cash nearly gone, the real lesson is structural: define ownership, performance expectations, and breakup terms before traction arrives.
Source: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014072Read original →