[martinkallstrom]

I have complete understanding of your situation, having been in the position of having to let people go from a very small team a couple of times. It's hard and feels awful, but you are doing what you see needs to be done which is great in comparison to not having the willpower to act.

If the developer you need to let go is as good as you say, he won't have a problem finding a new job. You feeling shitty will not help him nor you so continue working to remedy the situation to the best of your ability. That's all you need to do and I think it sounds like you will be able to look back to all of this and be proud of you being able to make hard decisions even in a situation when it's so much easier not to.