How Do You Protect Yourself When Your Cofounder Quits?

I started my company with two co-founders: Jim and John (not their real names). I was the CEO, Jim was the marketing guy, and John was the engineering guy.

My two co-founders and I had worked together previously. We understood the plan and direction we were going in. We started pitching VCs after working on the plan for about three months.

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John didn’t understand my value. John convinced Jim that they didn’t need me. My two co-founders quit the night before we were going to get funding.

I will never forget the last conversation I had with John. John said to me, “I know more about building a company than you do.”

This royally pissed me off for obvious reasons. I had brought Jim and John into the company, not the other way around. Yet here they were, stealing my idea.

You need to regroup when you a co-founder leaves

I recruited other people to co-found the company with me. My new co-founders and I quickly started raising money.

We quickly heard from some of the VCs we were meeting with that there was another group with a similar plan:

John and Jim formed a new company built around my vision and plan. I am certain my old co-founders thought they…