[richardjortega]

I love all the opinions and please, hearing from devs and founders alike is amazing. I'd like to some comments that I didn't detail:

1) Total hours dev worked so far: 100, hours likely left 50-100. 2) Partner and I invested $30k so far 3) We have experience in software team management so we had a pretty good idea of what we needed from a backend dev for phase 1. 4) He is not full-time or even part-time, more like contractual basis as per his convenience. 5) We always ask for his input/suggestions, but doesn't really show it. 6) We work on Saturdays/weeknights, because my partner and I have to get money to put into the startup (and pay our devs). 7) Not expecting free work or sympathy, just expecting fair work at a fair price. 8) Dev has stated that once we get funding he'll be "more into the project" 9) Everyone has vesting options, so he'll still get something if we part ways.

I know non-tech founders get bad reps on HN and I understand each dev likely has a horror story that has developed a bias that we ask for too much in return for too little - I can't change that about HN.

I'm merely asking for two questions: 1) What would you do in my shoes? 2) How do you add another key employee/founder if we transition? As in, you've put all this time it's hard to gives the keys to the castle to a newcomer.

[cbs]

I've asked only 1-5 hours per week from this individual.

You asked for minimal effort; you're getting minimal effort. He probably is putting in at least that much effort, its just a really, really slow pace.

Dev has stated that once we get funding he'll be "more into the project"

Well, yeah. You only asked for 5 hrs a week, and hes working at a discount because you're friends. You're basically screaming you're not serious about this project and that you think it has no future. You haven't given him any reason to invest at all in this project. When funding comes in, it will show him that there is something serious worth getting involved in.

I feel the only way I can tell he is working is that the Github repo is updated.

Hes not communicating as much as you'd like? Then why don't you start initiating the communication? You don't have to hammer him about status reports, but bring him in the loop on your discussions, then you'll know what hes doing, and will help show him you're serious about your startup too. If you are doing that already, then start hammering him for status updates.

What would you do in my shoes?

Commit to bringing him on for more hours, or hire another programmer. Either in addition to him, or to replace him, but if you want your project to go anywhere you should be putting at least a 40hr week into your backend.

[rdouble]

In another comment you said you're only asking him to work 1 to 5 hours a week. If the estimate 150 hours, he's got 9 months to 3 years to get the project done. If he started in May and has already gotten 100 hours in, he's far ahead of schedule.

In any case, few things of any importance are achieved in 1 hour per week. That is how much time I spend keeping my car clean.

Why don't you just hire a backend team in Poland like the frontend team you mentioned is doing a great job on the front end? Unless he's a genius and you're doing something really hairy I can't imagine it would take anyone long to understand the code. Just make sure you set commitment and deadline expectations properly this time.

It's more than a bit passive aggressive to call him a dick while posting under your own name on a public message board that loads of programmers (including probably him) read. The guy you have now will be relieved when you let him go.