[jeffmould]

Just curious why do you want him fired over, as the CEO suggests, finding a less critical role for him? Is your reasoning solely based on salary/equity the guy has? There may be other business related issues that you are not aware of that makes firing not the simple option (i.e. as a co-founder there is a possibility he has some form of employment agreement/contract that would give him a significant severance package). On the flip side I would say that just "burying" a poor performer is the wrong choice (the movie Office Space comes to mind).

[tech_nofounder]

  Just curious why do you want him fired over,
  as the CEO suggests, finding a less critical
  role for him? 

It's a great question, and one reason I'm grateful for the comments (thanks!) is that maybe I shouldn't be looking at it in this way.

  Is your reasoning solely based on salary/equity
  the guy has?

It's one of two: 1, yes, I feel we could be using the same massive comp to reward or hire people who are actually high performing. But 2, equally if not more important, co-founder or not I worry about the cultural weakness we get in to by just "burying" or ignoring a low performer.

[jacquesm]

> I feel we could be using the same massive comp to reward or hire people who are actually high performing.

That's above your paygrade.

> 2, equally if not more important, co-founder or not I worry about the cultural weakness we get in to by just "burying" or ignoring a low performer.

You didn't hire this person, they hired you.

And he may be a low performer in your view but he obviously did something right because he got the company to the point where they could afford to hire you.