In my last start-up, I was the sole Founder and had a Partner which dealt with the development side (instead of a 'Technical Co-Founder') so even though I could do it myself I prefer building the organisation. This time around we are Co-Founders but one is more 'Technical' by way of formal education. With my last one, we have been together for several years. There was a bit of a stressful period last year which they could have easily cut me off but instead shrugged and went "Look, don't worry, if you have any further projects just let us know". That was several years after our first partnership agreement. With the current one, I called this person out, working on multiple other projects and felt like mine was being delegated down to "Unimportant" (although could have been communicated better). In terms of potential development loss not a big deal, won't be a start-up killer, but nonetheless a pain for me. I am willing to 'train' up this Co-Founder though and get them into a start-up state of mind as to not burn any bridges. I think that with Co-Founders you have to work on making things go smoothly, and it's the soft skills like: - Communication (Founder agreements, meetings etc) - Figuring out how to work as a team (ie who is doing what etc) - Expectations. I think that some people have a concept as to what it's like being a Co-Founder based on what they read on blog entries, on popular culture and so on and then when they actually do take on board this type of position at a start-up they get that big wake up call. I think that is where fall outs happen especially for first-time entrepreneurs. Some people may also realise that they would rather work for a company or for a start-up rather than run one, and that's OK. Some people may not handle the stress and again, that's OK.

I think it's important that, in the end, we all treat each other like human beings. We're not saving lives here - we're not surgeons, nurses, firefighters. Keep that in perspective.