| It sounds like there are a few separate issues here: 1) You are concerned with other developers compensation. If you already pay 20%+ over market then your devs aren't going to care what the cofounder makes. If you are paying 20% below market then you will have a problem even if you fire the cofounder and pay 20% less across the board. If you have been acting as co-founder for the last six months this is your problem and your fault. Fix it. 2) You admit that firing the tech cofounder might harm morale but you think if you do it just right then everything will be ok. The truth is firing is inherently messy. Firing a well liked and powerful person? Incredibly messy. There is no reliable way to avoid it. You have to believe that the short term (6-12months) pain is worth it. As a dev if my company pulled such a stunt I'd start Looking for a new job. It shows the company doesn't value past achievements and contributions. 3) You believe you can gain access to the cofounders equity and you can use it to grow your team. In truth he will almost certainly keep most of his equity, or sell it back to the company. |