Technical cofounder lost motivation - what now?

[purpleclock]

My CTO lost motivation to complete the product we originally decided to make. I can't code what he's coding. The product is probably about 90 % done already, the last 10 % should take no more than two weeks, but he is dragging his feet and has even admitted that he has lost all enthusiasm for the product.

I do not want to find a new CTO, I just want suggestions on how to finish this product - should I try motivate him? How? If I can't manage to motivate him, should I pay someone else to finish the product? Should I just do nothing and wait? He said he will eventually finish it and to please not bother him, so I stopped asking so as not to annoy him. I just said to let me know if he needs anything. However, I am really concerned - that was a week ago and no updates at all from him on how the product is doing.

We have a second product we want to make after this one and he is still enthusiastic about that. I suspect he just wants to scrap this one and move on to the next product, but I still believe in this product and in any case, it's so close to done we should just finish and launch it.

What are your suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[crawfordcomeaux]

This is a problem of faith/belief. You believe in the business and he doesn't. The most compelling way to convert from one faith to another (without resorting to coercion) is through a religious experience. So in the spirit of "Show, don't tell," provide him with an experience that will alter his beliefs.

In religion, this is usually via miracles. Luckily, you're just dealing with a product, so your job is a little easier. If the product is at a point where play-testing it with potential users is possible, then that would be my immediate course of action. Try to get several individuals or small groups from your target market to attend play-testing events (free food/booze = attendance incentive). For the first event, I'd ask the CTO to facilitate while I observed and alternate for each consecutive session.

The two of you need to examine the possible outcomes beforehand and agree on ways to identify whether it's the product or the facilitator that's producing the results. For instance, should each session he facilitate result in low interest, but each session you facilitate result in positive results, either you're a good salesman or his negativity is infecting others (or both).

It's important to discuss and agree upon how to interpret the results of the play-testing ahead of time so that you are both on the same page. On that same line, you'll want to confirm with him that this is a plan that could potentially change his mind about the product. If so, then ask him what he needs to see in order for that to happen. If not, then find out what, if anything, will alter his perspective.

If he's not open to having a change of heart, then you may want to find a new CTO or move on to the next project.

[tronicron]

Been there. Had a similar situation on a one-project company I started with a friend.

In my case I was the developer and I had worked two months past our decision to transfer the company to him, the non-technical founder. When I asked him (probably somewhat aggressively) to give me a few days off to get started after New Year's day he hired another developer. He went silent and hid this from me for three weeks until I found out from the client why nothing was a priority any more.

Eventually that new developer contacted me to ask about the details of my past business relationship with the guy. He was having the same problems with him that I had.

How do I describe the guy in retrospect?

I think he drank a lot and shot his mouth off about being a CEO kickin' back collecting the cheques too much. I did all the fucking work and he collected.

Even though we had been communicating about the issue in my case he took this as a sign to move on. I'm actually pretty glad he did. I was ashamed to let the client be stuck with him and all of his failures but sometimes that's the price you have to pay to keep your sanity when things go bad.

In the time since this has happened I have done a lot of awesome technical projects and he still has a broken webpage with nothing but errors on the front page.

It is hard to find a new developer. I strongly advise you to get introspective for awhile and figure out what you did to piss him off. After you've given him a bit of time to cool down.

Meeting in person or on the phone certainly helps too. Emotional data is lost in emails - best to avoid until you've patched things up.

[purpleclock]

just to clarify...I'm pretty sure I'm different from your ex-CEO.

My CTO is not angry at me, but he gets very annoyed if I ask him about the product. We can talk about anything else and he acts normal/friendly. He told me to back off on asking about the product, so I did. However, I'm concerned and I don't know how to broach the topic of this product without setting him off. I want to be considerate to his feelings and needs, but how do I do this and also ensure work gets done in a timely manner? There is no real deadline to our product launch, so that makes things more difficult.

I don't think our roles are uneven either...I did all the research and design work for this project and raised our angel money.

[AznHisoka]

A week is very short time.. give him a month or so. Maybe you might want to consider taking a short mini-break as well. Even when I work on my own projects, I feel like giving up midway. It's not a motivation thing.. it's just that things are more interesting in the beginning, then when as you do more work, it requires digging into dirty, tedious stuff.

[bartonfink]

Have you had a conversation with him about it? The co-founder relationship's not the same as an employee/er relationship. Maybe he feels like you're bossing him around and he's unhappy about that. Maybe something is going on in his private life that's distracting. Maybe he's just bored - after all, finishing a project is paradoxically more difficult from starting one.

In the absence of information from him, do you think that it's worth finishing the product? You could almost certainly find a freelancer to finish it, but that's going to take cash that could be invested elsewhere.

I'd talk with him before contacting a freelancer, though. Unless you're planning on butting him out completely, he could see this as you going behind his back.

[purpleclock]

I have had a conversation. He thinks the product will 100 % be a failure and therefore finishing it is a waste of time, but I think that conclusion is far from certain and am actually very excited to launch it. Unfortunately, I have failed to convince him otherwise.

[steventruong]

Have you guys tried gathering committed users (and not just interested users or people who casually say they like the idea) prior to launch? It's the easiest way to know whether or not there is a chance it might work depending on how many people are even excited about the idea genuinely. Not to mention this should be a step you guys should do regardless rather than wait for a finish product to find customers.

[chris_gogreen]

How many hours of work does he estimate it will take?

[purpleclock]

He refuses to give me an estimate...this is worrying me as well.

[chris_gogreen]

Cut him off. You need someone who will do what they have committed to do, not someone who lets their feelings and emotions control them.

[mjs00]

Is there a middle ground where you can hire someone to help polish/finish, but under his direction? Otherwise you will lose a lot of time onboarding someone as they figure out his code/approach w/o his full complicity. Also perhaps prune back things that aren't absolutely critical. The person you hire should be able to help on maintenance as well, hopefully.

You might want to make completion of this required before starting project two, as well review from both sides what will be different to help get project two across the goal line to see if there really will be a project two together.

[chris_gogreen]

After a week, it is definitely time for another conversation. A week with no update is unacceptable, he is disrespecting you. It's rude and unprofessional to leave you hanging with "...eventually, don't bother me..." When someone who is supposed to be your business partner does this, it's a clue that: 1.) they are a joker, 2.) they can't be trusted.

If something was going on in his personal like etc. he should be adult and professional enough to inform the people he goes into business with.

Although, he could be working diligently, you could tell if your project is on git, they should be making regular commits to dev branches if they are working.

My advice, follow up with him on status, get a final answer on whether or not he will finish it, and when. If he is adult and reasonable, you guys are good. If he admits he doesn't want to do the work... Sever ties with them, they can not be trusted, how do you know he will not lose interest in the second product? And put you in the same position again.

I understand What AznHisoka is saying about losing interest, this is very true, but when someone commits to doing something, they need to do it, otherwise they are not worth your time. Fucking Jokers, there is an interesting post on HN about this: http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/if-you-want-to-get-rich-sto...

Seriously, if someone working with/for me and they; first stop working on the agreed priorities, then give me some wishy washy non existent time frame to finish it, then tell me to not bother them. I would have my network administrator cut their access off, ask them to step away from the computer(assuming the company owns it), then escort them out of the building.

I would find a freelancer to finish.

Chris

[staunch]

Procrastination is often your gut telling you something is wrong. It very well may be that his unconscious mind knows it's not worth the effort to complete the project.

Move on to product 2. If it happens again, maybe it's a different problem, but it could easily be that he's right about product 1.

This is the most important reason why you need to work on things that you deeply believe in. Unfortunately you only find out late in the game how much you really care about a problem.

[dholowiski]

I agree- he has a deep understanding of the product and even if he can't express it, he probably understands on some level why it _just wont work_. He could be having personal issues or, and this may sound crazy but depending on how far north of the equator you live he just might not be getting enough sunshine (seasonal affective disorder).

[rmalenko]

You and CTO can rest for week or more and then have a heart-to-heart talk. However, by my own experience you should look for a new CTO.

[joncooper]

Do you have a corporate entity set up and the IP locked down?

[AnonAdvice]

Suggest that he take try taking modafinil (200mg/day in the morning) and have some on hand. There is a significant chance that this will produce dramatic results.

[davidhansen]

The product is probably about 90 % done already, the last 10 % should take no more than two weeks

Spoken like a true non-technical cofounder :)

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the the pareto principle applies heavily to software development projects. It's quite likely that the "last 10%" will take much longer than you think.

That said, I've seen this happen quite often from inexperienced developers, and it sounds like you have one on your hands. It's easy for passion and ego to carry a project from a blank slate to a state of mostly-functioning. Hackers usually get a great rush from this stage of the project. It's their code, their architecture, their baby. Sure it's got some rough edges, but the important stuff is done. Their genius has been imbued into it, now comes the drudgery of polishing the edges - oh wait, this sucks. The process of turning something that works into something that's usable or salable is boring. What a letdown. They just solved this intractable problem in O(log n) time, and now you want them to make the interface's corners rounded or add some copy? Bah. They'd rather stare at the wall.

This is a total shot in the dark here, but I've seen it often enough that I'm fairly sure it's the mentality you're dealing with. And I can't say there's an easy solution. It's nearly impossible to motivate hackers who think creating software is all fun, all the time. You either chose a bad cofounder, or just a young one who needs some exposure to real software development projects. either way, I'd recommend a confrontation, followed up by hiring out if things don't change.

[jayzalowitz]

I have to agree with this.... Depending on how long he's been at it, it may be one of those "I need a second" my best suggestion is to get a deadline and show you are working your ass off as well. Basically, you need to do everything else you can and be there to get him pizza...

Consider bringing in a 3rd that you can give ~5% equity who can focus on problems he needs help with... ask for his help in this conversation...

[seiji]

"The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-ninety_rule

You could also go Pareto and say the last 20% takes 80% of your time, so take the time you've spent already and multiply it by 4 to get your remaining time until completion.