Founding with a partner can be your biggest asset — or your biggest liability.

This week’s story is from a first-time founder who teamed up with a friend. The vision was aligned, the excitement was real, and the early days felt electric.

But once they hit turbulence, all the unspoken expectations surfaced — and they realized building the same thing didn’t mean building it the same way.

We started as college friends.

We’d always talked about building something together — and when the right idea hit, we jumped in.

The first few months were great. We moved fast. Split everything evenly. 50/50 equity, 50/50 decision-making, 50/50 ownership.

But as things got more real, things got harder.

It started small.

I wanted weekly planning meetings — he thought they were a waste of time.

I liked documenting decisions — he preferred keeping it loose.

I was pushing for a clearer roadmap — he wanted to build “whatever felt right.”

It didn’t feel like disagreements. It felt like we were operating in different companies.

We disagreed on whether to launch early or keep polishing.

I believed we needed feedback — even if it meant putting something imperfect in front of users.

He didn’t want to release until it was “ready.”

We had multiple blow-ups. Tense calls. A few weeks where we barely talked.

Eventually, I just launched the thing myself — and told him after.

It didn’t go well.

He felt blindsided. Said it broke trust. I felt like I didn’t have a choice — we were stuck in an endless loop of “not yet.”

That was the moment we realized we couldn’t keep pretending we were aligned.

We weren’t.

We brought in a startup coach.

Not to mediate — but to force the real conversations we’d been avoiding.

It became clear: we had different working styles, different definitions of “progress,” and different levels of emotional investment.

We weren’t co-building. We were co-existing.

No. But we restructured.

I took over product + go-to-market.

He shifted to an advisory role and started freelancing again. Still around for big-picture input, but not in the weeds.

It was hard. But it saved the company — and probably our friendship.

Don’t confuse shared vision with shared values.

Talk about how you work — not just what you want to build.

And don’t wait for a blow-up to have those conversations.

Alignment isn’t about agreeing on the dream. It’s about agreeing on how you get there.