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There are 3 partners in my company. One of them has been causing some problems lately and has made some mistakes that has caused problems for many of our company's clients. I have had to send out approximately 6 apology emails to various clients in the last 6 months on account of mistakes this partner has made.

Every time I ask him about the errors, it is always by some crazy circumstance that this mistake happens and it is almost always something that was out of his control. Recently it also seems like he has been lying to try to save face. The worst part of this situation is that although the mistakes may have been honest, he has not once apologized for anything he has messed up. As I said before, it was always outside circumstances that caused the issues.

Although this partner means well, and is usually a nice guy, I fear he may not be able to provide the quality of service to our clients that we need.

The questions I have are:

  1. At what point do I know that this person is not capable of handling his current responsibilities?
  2. Any advice on a course of action I should take in this situation?
  3. Although this has not been seriously considered, what are the issues involved in firing a partner in an LLC with 30% ownership.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

People make mistakes. startup companies are always changing direction.

If he is not honestly trying then that is one thing, but making decisions and making mistakes is not something to be punished.

Perhaps you need to have some oversight or make decisions together. The "Five whys" is also a good place to start with this. Keep asking "why" something undesirable happened until you get to the REAL root cause of the problem.

This is a chance to make your business and partnership stronger.

good luck. Let us know how it comes out.

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up vote 2 down vote

Is he the only person doing this type of work? 6 mistakes in 6 months may seem like a lot, but what is it costing in dollars? It doesn't seem like they see this as a problem.

If you have to hire someone else, to do his/her job, try and take it out of their end.

Next time make this person send the apologetic email. There just doesn't seem to be any consequences for this person's actions.

Are there any expectations of what the owner's responsibilities and level of performance to continue being a partner? You may have to buy them out.

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He is the only person doing this type of work. I would agree that it seems as if he does not see this as a problem. I have had this person write the apologetic email before, but because this person is very technical he often speaks in terms over most of our client's heads. My goal is to sit down and have a serious talk with this partner. I am hoping this will help. – Shane Aug 9 '10 at 3:56
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Sound like it is going to require a meeting to draw attention to the problem, but expect the solution to be an on-going process of your technical person learning to understanding the customers. A startup sometimes can't afford to just lock the tech guy in a room and never have them come in contact with people. – JeffO Aug 9 '10 at 19:53
up vote 1 down vote

If he's a liar, I would seek to remove him, which means firing (which you can do together as the majority) but you can't get his share back. Instead you can incorporate and dilute his shares.

If overall he's vital to the success of the company, than just do apologies for him. One apology per month in exchange for a generally successful company is a great trade. Not everyone is capable of that part.

You need to decide which of these two scenarios it is. Everyone has faults, so you have to decide what's going to reduce risk in the success of the company.

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up vote 0 down vote

I personally do not deal with anyone that does not take responsibilities for this action. If they are making excuses that is what they are doing. End the relationship.

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