When Is It Time to Fire Your Co-Founder?

Start-ups are a lot like some relationships; great when when you first meet and date, perhaps a little bumpy and not-so-hot as you spend more time, grow, and start wanting different things from the relationship.

The fact of the matter is that the road is littered with co-founders or co-founding teams that needed to split apart – some stay, some leave – in order for the start-up to grow.… Read the rest

[Things to Avoid at Work] How To Say Goodbye

The adage “You have only one chance to make a first impression”  has a sibling: “You have only one chance to make a decent good-bye.”

I thought of both when I saw Sun Microsystem CEO Jonathan Schwartz’ farewell note as he terminated his employment with the completion of Sun’s acquisition by Oracle [Disclosure: Jonathan and I are nodding acquaintances in our Dolores Park neighborhood of San Francisco].… Read the rest