An investor asked "so who's the CEO?" We both answered at the same time
Co-founder of a Pre-seed Fintech in 🇳🇬 Nigeria.
Three years building together, 50/50, no tie-breaker share, and it never mattered until a partner meeting two weeks ago. She asked who the CEO is. We answered simultaneously. Different answers. The silence afterwards is the loudest thing I've heard in this company.
The fund is otherwise in — $600k committed, term sheet drafted — but the partner was direct afterwards: "We need one throat to choke before we wire." My cofounder's proposal is co-CEOs, alternating externally depending on the meeting. I think that's a non-answer wearing a tie. His counter is that me taking CEO is "a demotion he didn't agree to when we started."
Neither of us is wrong, which is the problem. He's the better operator. I'm the one investors call back. How do you actually decide this without one of you starting to quietly update a resume? And has anyone here genuinely run co-CEOs through diligence and lived?