A friend of mine was terminated from his job, and I had aspirations to invite him as a cofounder. He contacted me one day before the intro call with investor, and I said, we will think about your situations but right now I am building this pitch deck. He offered to help. (He has been helpful in the past), So I handed over the last two slides to him.
He added another slide with the team intros and added him as cofounder & CEO. Although, if things worked out, He was my number 1 cofounder choice, but I feel this is disrespectful. He just cannot write CEO without asking me first. This shows a lack of respect, and I am not really sure if I want to work with his guy.
Need second opinions.
Good luck.
When a company is just a CEO and a CTO, someone in the c-suite has to take the garbage to the dumpster.
I don’t have a side, but one of them is working for free on a company they don’t own…because if they did own some of it, the titles would be settled on the corporate documents.
I can see why the poster's use of the word "disrespectful" might make you wonder about that, but the full context seems to make it clear that it's not a question of ego. "Presumptuous" might have been a better choice of words for the BIG red flag raised by the "friend's" action.
I do not mind sharing as well. The general advice I get is, cofounder is a forward looking role and equity should be forward looking. But that conversation needs to happen first.
Maybe that’s not ego, but it will do until ego shows up.
There’s nothing wrong with ego motivating a course of action.
The problem is not recognizing that’s what is motivating the course of action.
YMMV.
Considering how little (none) we know about the two of you and the details of the situation described — how can you possibly expect any advice worth anything from here?
I am really curious what was your internal dialogue and intentions about posting this?
Sorry if it sounds rude.
Mind you, i don't see myself as a CEO, but at the same time, I believe, I need to see a little more effort before handing it over to somebody.
If you decide to move forward with this person, this is the type of behavior you are always going to have to look out for. You shouldn't allow yourself to every be surprised, nor should you leave any ambiguity with anything.
Then, ask yourself, "Is this the type of person I want to co-found a business with?"
Good luck.
I say this because I was working on a startup several years back and one day I got chatting with my friend's brother about it. He seemed interested and I suggested he could help out if he wanted. Anyway a few days later I found that he listed himself as a "co-founder" of my startup on Linkedin.
I wasn't mad or anything - it was in such early stages it's not like it really mattered. But I spoke to him about it a few days later and he seemed really embarrassed about it and acknowledged he should have asked me first, but explain he was just really excited to be part of it and got carried away. I thought was kinda cool if anything because I sensed he didn't mean any harm by it and he just wanted to put his name to something he was excited about and the "co-founder" title sounds cool to some people.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that some people really just like titles and he may not realise why what he is doing is wrong. I'm guessing that's not the case, but worth getting his perspective first maybe?
Otherwise I'd echo what others have said here. Seems like a red flag if he understands what he's doing.
Many, many people care more about status and fame than they do money as long as there's enough money to live off of. Many of us would take a job that paid minimum subsistence wages with dreadful hours and stress if it came with a founder title and there was a good chance that after 3-5 years we would have good money in spades even if we could have the same total amount of money and less stress from a regular job now.
If you can’t bring yourself to say that to him, you won’t have a productive relationship (and you will also have trouble dealing with employees well.)
If he did this as an overt power grab, that’s obviously not okay, but that’s so straightforward that I don’t think it’s what’s prompting you to ask, here.
If it smells like a power grab, there might be reason for that.
Then again deadpan humor doesn't come across very well, and I've seen people misinterpret it as power grabs, based on gutfeel. It's something I just avoid in the workplace.
Great friend, but had to say no to working with him.
Until you talk with them assume joke (prior knowledge you haven't shared not withstanding). It's not clear who poorly communicated, and the worst thing you can do is say nothing after having posted here. Part of clearly communicating is catching when you're making assumptions, and asking questions directly to the person to learn more.
If you can sit down and have a chat then all good and do so. Go have fun.
I'll note that you've called this person a friend in your post, so it's likely you know them pretty well. Instead of asking strangers on the internet with only a very reduced understanding of your relationship dynamic and past conversations, why not have a chat with your friend and ask them directly?
If you're considering this person as your cofounder, you're going to need a strong communication foundation. Getting offended by a perceived lack of respect (which could be valid, but it doesn't sound like you're sure they meant offence since you're asking the question here) is not a good place to start any business relationship.
Also I found with my first business keeping a journal for the business was also useful so I could refer back. The human mind isn't really photographic so much as a fuzzy merge algorithm and memories change over time, and it's useful to write these critical points down, and some things won't seem "critical" right now but will become so. I am a journal-whore though and I advocate keeping a few different ones. Don't write a novel, I tend to write bullet points as it keeps me from rambling, like I am currently.
This is the type of person whose first move will be to remove you from the company.
Do not ever, ever work with this person. Ever again.
However, you felt the need to come and ask other people. It means you don't feel comfortable talking to him. You two don't communicate well together and you don't trust him. Communication and trust are the most important things. I would have probably avoided.
On the other hand if he is well aware that you are Mr. front man supreme presenter (just pressed for time/content) than he made an offensive slide and is not even cofounder material, which he may have been due had he not been caught angling to be negotiated down from CEO.
This is a "go to Hell" moment.
