- Starting Together
- March 2026
- 7 min read
- By Tanis Jorge
The 3 Conversations Every Cofounder Team Must Have
Most cofounder problems start as a conversation nobody had. These three cover expectations, ownership and what happens if things change — and they are easier to have now than later.
Most cofounder problems do not start with a fight. They start with a conversation nobody had. Everyone assumes the other person sees it the same way, and for a while that works. Then something changes, and the gap shows up at the worst possible moment.
These three conversations cover the ground where founders most often assume agreement: what each of you is really committing to, who decides what, and what happens when life or the business changes. None of them take long. All of them are easier now than later.
Expectations and commitment
Start with the plain facts. How many hours a week is each of you giving to this? Is anyone still working another job, and for how long? How much money can each of you put in, and how much do you need to take out to keep your life running?
Then go one step further and talk about ambition. One of you may want a steady business that pays well for years. The other may want to raise money and grow fast. Both are reasonable. They are just very hard to do at the same time.
What to say out loud
Cover these before you move on
- Hours per week each of you will actually work
- When any outside job or contract ends
- Money in: who is contributing what, and when
- Money out: the minimum each of you needs to live on
- What success looks like in three years, in your own words
Write down what you agreed. Not because you distrust each other, but because memory quietly edits things.
Roles and decision rights
Early on, everyone does everything. That feels fair, and it is fast. It also hides the question that matters later: when the two of you disagree, who decides?
Split the work by area, not by task. One of you owns product. One of you owns customers. Whoever owns an area makes the call inside it, and tells the other what they decided and why. Keep a short list of decisions that always need both of you: hiring, spending above an agreed amount, pricing changes, anything that changes ownership.
A simple test
Pick three real decisions you have coming up this month. Say out loud who decides each one. If you both hesitate, the roles are not clear yet.
What happens when circumstances change
This is the conversation founders skip most, because it feels like planning for failure. It is not. It is planning for real life. People get sick, move, have children, run out of savings, or simply change their mind about what they want.
Agree now on what happens if one of you needs to step back for a while, reduce hours, or leave altogether. Talk about vesting, so that ownership reflects the time actually contributed. Talk about what happens to a departing founder's role, accounts and access. Agree how you would tell the team and your customers.
Questions worth answering
- What counts as stepping back, and how much notice is fair?
- How does ownership change if someone leaves early?
- Who takes over the leaving founder's areas?
- How do we tell the team, and who says it?
- When would we revisit this agreement on purpose?
How to actually have these conversations
Book a set time rather than raising it in passing. Take one conversation per sitting, so nobody feels ambushed. Ask questions before you argue positions. End each one by writing down what you decided, what you did not decide, and when you will come back to it.
You will not agree on everything, and you do not need to. The goal is to know exactly where you differ, and which of those differences affect the business.
Written by
Tanis Jorge
Tanis Jorge is a serial tech entrepreneur, adviser to founders and author of The Cofounder’s Handbook. She works with founding teams on the practical side of partnership: expectations, roles, decisions and change.