Update: Fired my co-founder

Had the conversation yday. He came in at 2:30, first time in weeks. Think he knew something was off the moment I closed the meeting room door and said we needed to talk. The office felt so fucking quiet.

Hardest thing I've ever done. You don't prepare for having to end something with someone who's been your friend since college. Someone you built dreams with. Someone who was there coding next to you at 3am when you first got this crazy idea off the ground. Makes me sick just typing this.

We raised money. Built something people wanted. Had actual customers begging to pay us. But I couldn't keep watching it all slip away while he treated it like a side hobby. Kept telling myself "he'll change" or "next week will be different" but you can only lie to yourself for so long.

He took it better than I expected. Almost made it worse. Just sat there nodding, like he'd been waiting for this. Said he'd felt trapped for months, that this wasn't what he wanted anymore. Fucking hurts realizing the thing you've poured your life into for the past year was just a burden to someone else.

Legal shit starts tomorrow. Awkward calls with investors. Division of equity. All that fun startup divorce paperwork no one warns you about. But for the first time in months, my chest doesn't feel tight. No more sleepless nights wondering if this is the day it all falls apart - atleast for something outside of my control.

Don't know if I've lost a friend forever. Really fucking hope not. But you can't set yourself on fire trying to keep someone else's dreams warm when they've already checked out.

To any (potential) entrepreneurs reading this - passion gap kills faster than skill gap. Your co-founder's brilliant mind means nothing if their heart's not in it anymore. Although very expensive, think this was an important lesson to have in my founder journey so thankful for that.

Also, had a lot of helpful conversations with some of you in DMs - thanks for all your inputs, really helped figure some of these things out.