[bmelton]

This. The main thing to look for in a co-founder is someone who can do everything you can't.

You CAN have multiple co-founders obviously, but that raises more questions than anything.

You CAN pay a developer as well, but are they going to care as much as a founder? Probably not.

To me, it doesn't sound like you have a Catch 22, you just have picked the wrong co-founder. That said, it sounds like, from the position you're in, you might not be able to get away with less than 3 founders. If you're front-end, and she's marketing/business, you obviously lack a backend developer.

You either need to find someone else who fits that need, or start learning it yourself. If you already know frontend, Node might present the lowest barrier to entry. The only real alternative is to find someone with business, marketing AND backend dev experience, which is likely going to be a very hard find.