[brudgers]

You're lead engineer. You're a valuable contributor. You've got a problem. Your CEO has offered very reasonable advice. I recommend re-evaluating the reasons you have given for rejecting it. If the company is any good it is likely that the CEO has discussed the issue with the board and the cofounder. Any board worth its salt would see fucking over a cofounder as the kiss of death. Risk of lawsuit dampens enthusiasm for future investments, while a buyout burns through cash for no value except in a case where the cofounder is actively harming the company...and in that case the company is almost certainly already hosed.

As you acknowledge, there may have been a misalignment between your expectations and talents and those of the company. It's an experience worth learning from.

You're the lead engineer. A lead engineer's role is not restructuring the cap table. The focus on programming chops underpinning your argument and clawing at a little pie instead of making the pie bigger suggest a narrowness of view that seems to be missing the bigger picture.

Good luck.

[tech_nofounder]

I really appreciate this frank advice.

I think your discussion of business risks has best reflected the reality upon me: because he is a cofounder, he can't just be simply fired.

(Incidentally my original title was "[How] would you fire..", i.e., I have doubt about the very question.)

  The focus on programming chops underpinning your argument 
  and clawing at a little pie instead of making the pie bigger 
  suggest a narrowness of view that seems to be missing the 
  bigger picture.

Well, I'm bringing a binary/myopic-seeming view of the problem to HN, when in reality it's far from my biggest day-to-day concern. All of my time is spent "growing the pie" and even working to cultivate this engineer.

  It's an experience worth learning from.

Indeed..

[brudgers]

The CEO has put a solution on the table. If you trust the framework in which the CEO is making their decision, then it is easy to take this point of startup stress out of your life. You have said that this is not the biggest fire in your forest. It ain't ever gonna be perfect. Today it just has to be good enough not to die.

Having a founder who is willing to hire people smarter than themselves is a good thing. It's a long way until the biggest problem is determining the best way to roll around in a pile of money.

[tech_nofounder]

Thank you. This attitude helps.