Get him to stop looking at competitors. It's nerve wracking, demoralizing, and distracting. You guys probably have more than enough ideas by now, if you'd just focus on the most promising ones your competitors might start looking at you.
As far as getting him to stop looking at competitors, 100% agreed.
Reminds me of a project a collegue was involved in at work (which is at a big established firm). This had; 1 programmer, 1 manger (who requested more technical staff cause he knew 1 programmer wasn't enough but was turned down), and 2 project managers. As the project was running furhter behind schedule (due to agressive scheduling and vague requirements and mainly because lone programmer was in status meetings ever day), various high-level management were thrown at the problem.
Eventually, the programmer spent about 1/2 his day in meetings about the project, with his manager, 2 project managers, 1 VP, 2 senior VP's. Project was never finished ...
Unless what you are trying to do is get at your co-workers, in which case I think you will succeed.
I do want to be open and honest with my coworkers, and I've already had one (one of the designers) have a look at what I wrote. I am going to present the ideas contained therein, to the group, ASAP--it's a matter of finding time to meet and talk about "serious stuff". I was hoping to get some feedback from YC readers because I trust their opinion and ability to perceive when someone has gone off the deep end as regards ideas, reasoning, etc. In other words, I'm hoping that if I'm smoking crack, or if all startups are this way, someone will tell me before I unveil it to my coworkers at large.
I am certainly not trying to get at my coworkers. The stuff at the top is in case it's discovered by a certain coworker who i would rather heard it from me, not the blog. He's been known to read YC news once in a while, thus the precaution.
Thus my beef about venture capital.
You asked. I won't be bashful. Take my feedback however you want (or tell me to go to h*ll).
You do not have a startup. You have a hobby. A startup is full time. Greater than full time.
Like you, I'm a hacker. I simply cannot imagine giving up equity to a designer or an "idea man" (whatever that is). Design is grossly overrated (see Google). Ideas are everywhere. Only a fool pays for them. People should be paying you to give you ideas (more about that below).
I understand that these are your friends and that you love working with them. Nothing wrong with that. What's more important to you, the quality time you spend together or the outcome? I think you have a tough decision to make because, frankly, I don't see you having both. You don't need these guys.
I would seriously consider taking your employer's offer to relocate. This would give you a graceful exit from your current endeavor and preserve your friendships. Then I would bank every dollar I could in order to go back to my start-up full-time. You should be able to work full-time for at least 6 months, preferably a year. I would also try to pick up side jobs somewhat related to my start-up. Pick up a few extra bucks and get your ideas FROM THOSE WHO ARE PAYING YOU. These are real ideas coming from the field, not from some ivory tower. So the logic is reversed: you can pay for untested ideas, or get paid for real ones.
You don't mention whether your employment is related to your start-up in any way. If it's not, all the more reason to pick up side work.
I would also try to make connections with other hackers; maybe you can find more suitable co-founders.
(By the way, the comment about open and honest communication is spot on. Talk to your partners!)
You've got quite a few things to think about and a lot of good feedback from both places. Please - keep us posted. You never know where this may lead...
I will attempt to let you all know how this pans out.
I staffed a very small team and we took off. Every day my idea guy would wonder around the office, (his basement) coming up with some kind of new thing or two that was cool. It was distracting as heck.
I finally took him aside and told him that we could do a certain amount of work each time-box (which I believe was 3 weeks) but we couldn't work in an environment where we didn't know from day-to-day what we were doing. Interestingly, the other main programmer said that I was being too anal. So the idea guy and I had words and I left.
The company never did pan out. Being agile is what it is all about, but you have to actually _do_ something for that truism to work. This is like the guys who sit in the stands at major sporting events. It's easy to have some master plan that changes whenever the mood strikes when you don't have any skin in the game to make something happen. This is why it's better to have geeks who are also idea guys -- they realize the cost associated with the ideas. Just because you can say it easily doesn't mean you can create it easily.
Dude -- I'm sure these guys are your friends and you've been through a lot. But there's lots of serious, focused work involved with making a startup happen. It sounds like what you've got is more of a painful group hobby. I think it might be time to consider a better format for being productive.
I think you're right, at least for my part. One problem is that the idea guy IS my friend, but I don't think he shares my point of view about this. I wrote up the blog post in order to collect my thoughts to relate them to him.
But as far as keeping a friend? He's a teacher, right? Why don't you sell him on the idea about learning how other startups succeed? I'll never forget reading "A Good Hard Kick in the Ass" several years ago. It completely changed the way I understood how startups work. Perhaps you could sell him on the idea that you're feeling a little frustrated, and perhaps other teams out there have learned something that might be useful to you guys.
I also liked "Founders at Work" which I read a while ago. I wouldn't bury the guy in material -- after all, if you give him too much he'll just blow it off. But I'd find some text that made the case and _was presented by another person who is an authority_. That way, it's not a you vs. him deal, it's just a couple of friends discovering how things work.
Good luck. If he's smart and your friend I'm sure he'll see the value of a structured approach to creativity. The trick is to be non-confrontational. Let the ideas battle it out, and not the people.
