@garrytan — on cofounder dynamics
my take. garry tan's tweet about cofounder fights is the most accurate compressed-wisdom on YC twitter this year.
Short clip, short note. Garry's tweet was 280 characters — i'm not adding much, i'm just making sure i can find it again.
Cofounder disputes are not won, they're metabolized. The mistake is treating them like debates. They're more like weather — you plan for them.
what i think 'metabolized' actually means in practice
You don't resolve the disagreement. You let it sit for 24–72 hours, in which time both people privately update their priors. At hour 48 one of you brings it back up and the original 'fight' has shrunk to a logistical question. The dispute didn't get won; it got smaller.
What this requires is the absence of scorekeeping. The moment one of you remembers 'we did it your way last time', the metabolism breaks.