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Company fell apart due to infighting

So, the startup that I was a founder of … just fell apart.  There were multiple founders, and we are all angry and are going our separate ways.  We are not currently speaking to one another, but were great friends before all of this happened (friends for 10 years).

To those of you that have experienced something similar, how did you handle this?  Were your friendships irrevocably damaged?  In retrospect, do you wish you had done anything different?  Did any of you get over this and become friends again?

  • The way I handled it was to get a respected third party involved informally to mediate the disagreements. Sometimes we don’t trust each other’s motivations when we make logical arguments so a third party that all party trusts can help clear that to a big extent.

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  • I lost my cofounder/ best friend. And the relationship was very damaged, but not irrevocably. It will never be the same, but with time and patience friends are able to forgive one another.

    Doing business together now? No. Spending time together? No. Wish the best for one another and respect one another? Yes.

    In retrospect, I wish I did one of two things. A –> Not do business with friends in the first place. Or B –> Do business with friend understanding its a long-term commitment. Basically go all in or all out.

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    • Wish the best for one another and respect one another? Yes.

      Great note here.

      _Or B –> Do business with friend understanding it’s a long-term commitment. _

      “Are you willing to work for 10 years without making any money because it’s fun and worth your attention? No? You’re not welcome on the co-founding team.”

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  • Welcome to the club, business is business. ALWAYS set boundaries and you can do this in the form of CONTRACTS where you can define roles, percentages, how to deal with any “what if..” scenarios. That way everybody knows what’s up. I learned my lesson the hard way.

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  • Been there. Friend’s daddy is rich, he bought me out. I am no longer connected to company in anyway any more. Company pretty much closed one year after I got out. We are still good friends.

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