> My question is should I let him take over as CTO?
I say remove the word "CTO" or any other 3-letter acronym that starts with C from your lexicon for now. Can he be your partner -- that is, can you depend on him and be open and honest with him?
> told me he had watched the Social Network last night, and it made him want to work on this with me
I honestly don't know if I can depend on him or not, if it's any indicator of dependability, he had around a 2.8 GPA in College and he wasn't really doing any side-projects. His main ordeal would probably be his job, as he has a full-time job as a System Admin. If I judge his dependability based on that then it's shit. I think I'll ask him why he wants to do this and if he's honest about that his response will tell me whether he's dependable.
Him watching the Social Network and being motivated from that is slightly worrisome to me as well, but it was a movie that even with it being mostly fictitious, it still showed the possibility of success in Silicon Valley.
Everything you've said on this post leads to a big, flashing, neon sign saying "DON'T DO IT, MAN".
It's your own choice, but if you can't depend on him, doesn't have the skills in the areas he'd need to have, and seemingly wants to muscle in because he's watched a movie, then I think it's probably better if you find a way to decline without being too rude about it.
Maybe help brainstorm his own idea he can run with, if only to be supportive?
I think this is pretty cool! Full disclosure, though: I'm definitely a Microsoft apologist.
That said, I've been thinking for the past few years that we're really going to start seeing more things like this from MS. Open Source & Apple aren't exactly "eating MS' lunch" but they are garnering significant market share. Microsoft can really win big if they start playing nice with other's services.
Thanks! Reconciliation isn't nescessarily out of the question. I expressed in no uncertain terms how unhappy I was with a few things earlier, we'll see if my concerns are addressed or not.
Heh, yeah I find that pretty scary too. Good point about matching, he has put in a lot of cash already but in a way that I feel like we don't need. Unfortunately the way the gig is structured the cost will absorb the cash we're making (we have some really expensive hardware).
