throwaway9934

We don't have one. I need to either find a way to fix it or quit. I've taken a lot of the advice on here and I'm actually feeling hopeful for the first time in a long while.

Neither one of us can be fired unfortunately. I would have done that already had it been an option.

Thanks that hadn't occurred to me. I've found myself bewildered by some of his statements and actions, maybe that will help me understand whats going on inside a bit better.

Hey thanks for responding. I'm sorry to hear you are in a similar situation.

Okay so yes we can agree on what we're trying to as a company and we can write it down. We even have a performance metric. So that's a good start but you'll see things start to break down for us soon.

There is no accountability, and we absolutely cannot agree on individual roles let alone come up with titles.

Turnover was > $1m, we have no funding, and < 10 staff. Both of us have a technical background. Our model is basically one large up front set up fee and then an ongoing subscription.

Your comments about the CEO type role are interesting and really accurate. Right now I'd guess that I'm 80/20 tech/sales and he is 20/80. So he is the initial primary contact for most of the sales although over time I seem to become the primary contact. I think this is because I am more willing to recognize and admit the problem exists.

Some of the technical problems are only currently solvable by one of us because of specific domain knowledge. Otherwise I would have taken responsibility for everything technical.

We cannot agree that the company is not solving current customers problems well enough. I hear a lot about managing expectations and T's & C's.

I feel like I often have to step in and fix relationships with customers because of this. Then I end up making a plan, taking charge of the plan, and making myself accountable to the customer for executing that plan. I seriously piss him off when I do this, especially if it is one of "his" accounts.

I've taken on board a lot of the advice I've read here today, and I just maybe think that I may have been able to finally get the idea through to him that happy customers will make his sales job a lot easier. I've also (I think) managed to make him see that it would only take us a maximum of one month to solve all the remaining problems that I (and most of the customer base) classify as major.

I'm going to do everything I can to make sure the company will survive the next couple of months (that means sales) and then I'll need to revisit the idea of what's next.

thank you

Not Michael :)

This is really clear advice and thinking; thank you.

We had a positive interaction today, first in a long time. I took a lot of the advice on this board and the result was good. Hopefully we can make it continue at least in the short term.

We're self-funded so there is no higher power to call upon.

It's a cooperate or die situation, and yes we need a miracle.

I've taken advice today based on what I've read here and I somehow managed to speak frankly but with empathy. For the first time in I can't remember how long we managed to get along and talk about the problems. It felt like a good change. I don't know how much of it was me, him, or the situation.

I don't expect that to last indefinitely but if we can survive this I think I can create a win-win situation and find myself a way out.

We're both technical and we've both made similar financial contributions and sacrifices. One thing that has become painfully clear for both of us is that we need professional sales and marketing help from someone who knows our domain inside and out.

The problem is that we can no longer afford to bring such a person into the company until we dig ourselves out of this hole.

It's strange, yesterday I would have said it is beyond repair.

Today, after taking some advice here I see a sliver of hope that it might be salvageable.

I've managed to make myself replaceable at least in tangible ways so I hope to find myself a good way out where everyone wins.

I've not thought of that, but it's something I'd be willing to try.

Our contract does not define how things will be resolved in a conflict. Basically we end up deadlocked and nothing happens until one capitulates. This has resulted in absurd scenarios that I would be too embarrassed to admit.

If we manage to survive this crisis I there is a lot of work to do in order to fix things. There is a lot of built up damage.

Thanks for the response and for the book tip. I will read it.

You are right that it was a big mistake to not get involved in what the other was doing. In retrospect I think our egos prevented us from allowing "interference" in what the other was doing so it naturally developed like that.

Thanks for responding and please accept my apologies in the delay in my response.

I had a long overdue positive interaction today. I think we've both realized that if we don't work together on this we're finished. So that's a good start.

I'm going to take your advice about doing something that's not work and then try to have a conversation later. I have noticed that in the past he can totally reject an idea but then accept it a few days later.

I have also had more success previously with presenting a course of action as me attempting to support him or his goals. My ego gets in the way of doing that too often though. It's been tough.

I think I may also have some internal insecurity in regards to him trying to hog the limelight whenever possible. I like to think that I'm above feeling that but I do often have to check myself to make sure I'm doing things for the right reason and not as some kind of passive aggressive retaliation.

I realize now that at some point in the last few years I totally lost any sense of empathy for my co-founder. As I write this I realized that today was the first time I've shown him any real sense of empathy in a really long time. Coincidentally I think we may have actually made some progress in turning things around today as well.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

You are right, it's really hard to get to a consensus if one person feels attacked.

It's really hard to describe some of the major problems without coming across as blaming though since we've more or less followed a path that I attempted to explain monthly for at least 6 months (sometimes nicely and sometimes badly to be honest).

I've taken the most blameless approach I can and I think it might actually be working now though! We may have come to a common realization today that if we don't come together as a team right now it's all over.