Article · ~15 min read

Healing your co-founder relationship

Lenny Rachitsky (with Matt Mochary) · Lenny's Newsletter Freemium Intermediate

When a strategy fight has calcified into a standoff, this walks through the mechanics of getting unstuck: name what each of you actually needs, separate that from what is best for the company, and bring in structured help when direct conversation stalls. It is the practical companion to Perel: less about the feelings underneath, more about the process to run when you cannot agree on what would even settle the question.

  • Answer three questions at once (what I need, what you need, what the company needs) instead of defending a single position
  • A hardened direction disagreement is a signal to change the process, not to keep repeating the argument
  • Structured outside help is the move once founders can no longer resolve a core decision between themselves
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The question it answers

  1. My co-founder wants to pivot and I don't. How do we break the deadlock?

Read with it

  1. This is the guide for the check-in itself: what to actually say when you sit down. Perel names the three things co-founder... First Round Review Article · 20 min read How to Fix the Co-Founder Fights You're Sick of Having: Lessons from Couples Therapist Esther Perel Esther Perel (via First Round Review)
  2. Three founders describe, in their own words, exactly how they handled investors through a pivot, and the contrast is the... Mercury blog Article · 12 min read 3 founders on their experience pivoting their companies Mercury (Meghan Gunn), featuring Dave Rogenmoser (Jasper), Andres Klaric (Fuse), Hillary Lin (Curio)
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