For startup co-founders · Exit & equity talks
Tuesday’s coffee is booked. Rehearse the part where they say you’re abandoning the team.
Your lawyer has the vesting schedule. You still don’t know what happens after you stop talking.
Eighteen months in, the 50/50 split doesn’t match who’s building what — or you know you need to leave and your co-founder still thinks you’re in it together. You’ve read the Servanda guide and bookmarked three legal blogs. You still can’t picture yourself saying “I don’t think this partnership is working for the company anymore” and then sitting there while Sam processes it. Kommi puts you in that coffee shop first — with a co-founder who guilt-trips, reframes equity, or goes quiet — so Tuesday isn’t your first take.
The legal memo isn’t the hard part.
Every founder blog has the same checklist: review vesting, secure access, draft a separation agreement, brief investors. You have the framework. What you don’t have is muscle memory for when Sam says “we promised each other we’d see this through” and you have to decide in real time whether to apologize, defend, or hold the business frame.
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What’s at stake
A badly handled exit can poison your cap table for the next round, leave IP access open, burn $20k+ in legal fees, or turn a salvageable split into a public founder feud.
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Why you procrastinate
You’re afraid of being “the bad co-founder.” You keep softening the message until Tuesday arrives and you deliver something vague that drags the mess out another quarter.
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What legal blogs can’t do
Tran VC and Sprintlaw explain vesting cliffs perfectly. They can’t simulate your co-founder going silent for twelve seconds while you wonder if you just destroyed a friendship.
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What counsel costs
One hour with a startup attorney runs $300–600. You need three reps across the weekend — Sunday night, Monday morning, Monday night — not one polished opening paragraph.
Sample roleplay · 3 minutes
“We promised each other we’d see this through.”
You’re Jordan, the technical co-founder. You’ve decided the partnership isn’t working. You’ve named it clearly. Now Sam pushes back.
You (Jordan)
“Sam, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I don’t believe our current setup is working for the company or for either of us anymore. I think we need to talk about a clean transition.”
Sam (your co-founder)
“Wait — what? We promised each other we’d see this through. I carried us through the first six months when we had nothing. You can’t just walk away because things got hard.”
Your move
- → Acknowledge the early months, then restate that the partnership isn’t working now
- → Ask Sam what they heard and what they’d want a transition to look like
- → Pivot to “let’s take a few days before we discuss equity — but the decision stands”
Each choice changes how Sam responds. The room gets tense. You practice holding the business frame without sounding cruel — or catching yourself when you’re about to backpedal into “maybe we can fix this” just to end the awkwardness.
Then the coach reads you back to yourself.
Not a cap-table calculator. Not seventeen legal tips. One observation about what you did, one adjustment for next time, one sentence you can carry into Tuesday’s coffee.
Sample coach debrief
“You named the misalignment clearly in your opening — no hedging, no ‘I’ve been thinking maybe.’ When Sam guilt-tripped about the first six months, you immediately apologized and offered to ‘give it another quarter.’ That let the conversation become about loyalty instead of terms.
Try next time: Acknowledge Sam’s contribution in one sentence, then return to the frame: ‘I’m grateful for those months — and I still believe we need a different structure going forward. Can we agree to pause on equity until we’ve both had time to process?’
Carry into Tuesday: ‘This isn’t about who worked harder. It’s about whether this partnership still works for the company. I’ve made my decision — let’s figure out a clean path forward.’”
Questions co-founders ask
- Is this a replacement for a startup attorney?
- No. Kommi helps you rehearse the conversation before it happens. Vesting math, separation agreements, and IP assignment still belong with counsel. We help you say the hard thing clearly the first time, so the meeting doesn’t derail before you get to documents.
- What if I’m the one staying and need to ask them to leave?
- Same skill, different opening. You can practice initiating the conversation when you believe their contribution has dropped off or the role no longer fits — including when they say “you’re firing your co-founder.”
- Can I practice different co-founder reactions?
- Yes. The roleplay adapts when you choose different responses — a guilt-tripping co-founder, one who goes silent, one who immediately agrees but then renegotiates equity in text messages. You can run the same scenario three different ways in fifteen minutes.
- We haven’t raised yet. Is $11.99/mo worth it?
- One hour of startup counsel costs more than a year of Kommi. A messy cofounder exit can delay your raise by months and cost far more in legal fees than twelve dollars. You also get unlimited sessions across every scenario we ship — investor pitches, first hires, board updates.
$11.99 a month.
A coach with a calendar runs two hundred dollars an hour. Kommi runs roughly forty cents a day — and is awake when you can't sleep, which is when most of these conversations are actually being rehearsed anyway.
We don't have a free tier, a team plan, or a premium upsell. One price, no pricing page riddle. If we add tiers later, we'll do it because users asked — not because a growth deck did.
About forty cents a day.
- Two free sessions before billing starts
- Then $11.99 a month — about forty cents a day
- Unlimited sessions — any conversation you can describe
- A coaching read after every session, and your progress over time
- Cancel in two taps; 7-day refund if you change your mind
One conversation you’d have talked yourself out of is worth years of this. Or just sleep better on Wednesday. Either way.
Run your first rehearsal — free →US only at launch. We'll get to the rest of the world.
The conversation is on Thursday. Begin tonight.
Three minutes. Two free. 7-day money back after that.