Ask HN: Co-founder wants me to leave but won't entertain a buy out offer
Can I give you some advice that really sucks?Walk away. It's not fair, but starting a company isn't like getting a job. It's a relationship and a risk that doesn't always work out. Sometimes you find more money and success than you could ever dream of, and other times you waste 11 months.Here's my thought process. You and your cofounder aren't going to be able to work together after this. The company has no money and no value, so you're trying to get your portion of something that doesn't exist. Them raising money to pay you just kills their chance at ever being successful... plus, who would give a company money just to pay someone out? Same goes for accelerating vesting on the 40%... there's no way they can build a company when someone not involved owns a huge stake.You could spend time and money trying to right this injustice. And yeah, it is an injustice. But the worst thing you can do is tie your identity to this. There's not much upside to fighting it; all you'll do is spend more time, money and energy you could be using to start something new.I've had this happen to me before, so I completely understand what it's like. You feel helpless and shitty and like you wasted a ton of time. Rather, do your best to put it behind you, and focus on what benefits you got out of it.Did you learn about a new space that will make you extra valuable to another company? Even just having a founder mentality will raise your value to a startup. Did you learn things you would do differently? You can start another company, and do it better this time.I know it sucks. But I'm 99% confident you won't get anything out of this, so it's best to just walk away. It's cheesy, but "success is the best revenge." Your relationship with this company failed, but you haven't. Don't tie your personal journey to this one company.Good luck, and my emails in my profile if you want to talk!(Also, a few years ago I wrote about going through it: https://medium.com/@gkoberger/five-years-time-6a6ae1157a66)