How Do You Address Co-Founder Time Commitment?
Hey everyone! How do you address the issue of time commitment in the founding team?
I am working with a techie cofounder and we are about to add another techie cofounder to the team. The techies are both great - one is a team lead in his day job, the other is a software architect. Both have high motivation to start their own business, but both cannot just leave their day job for financial reasons. Also no chance on leaving their wives haha.
On the other hand - I bootstrapped another company for many years and saved up enough money to go and do whatever I want without a day job on the side. As it stands i also currently don't have a girlfriend.
I really want to work with both of them though. One thing that I will ask them is whether we could do a step in-between 100% day job and 0% day job. Maybe something like switching to part-time in their day job when we make some stable income.
What else could or should I do to make this work?
Really resonate with this — I’m in a similar boat. My cofounder’s all-in mentally but tied up with a full-time job, and I’m carrying most of the execution right now. It’s tough to balance equity, expectations, and energy when only one person is truly full-time.
One thing I’ve been doing is breaking the work into “ownership lanes” — whatever each person owns, they’re fully accountable for, regardless of hours. Helps reduce friction and clarify roles. Still figuring it out, but glad to know others are navigating the same challenge.
Following this thread for insights.
In retrospective, I will not work with a cofounder again who isn't putting in the same level of commitment as I am. I am finally working with someone committed, and it is a completely different dynamic.
H Really appreciate you sharing that — it hits hard. I’m currently in that imbalance myself: cofounder’s mentally in but tied to a full-time job, while I’m running execution solo. I’ve been considering next steps, so hearing that the dynamic shift came from finding someone truly committed gives me clarity. If you’re open to chatting more about how that transition played out for you, I’d value your insight.
Sure - do you use Discord or WhatsApp? We could briefly chat there. Let me know how I can reach you.