Xjyuk

I am a co-founder of a software startup in the b2b space. I am an engineer and have helped build much of
our platform from the ground up. It's been 3+ years since we started doing this and we've raised seed funding +
further funding as we've grown our customer base. When we began, we had some specific technology, and found a sector
of industry that would benefit and we've applied it there for the past few years.

At this point, I am pretty burnt out, I don't enjoy working in the market we are in, I've taken significant pay
cuts (no pay for 1 year, less than 50% market rate past 2), and my time gets split between customer implementations
and support and helping manage the team. My wife and I have made significant sacrifices for this job (location, home, etc) and at this point I don't see the positives in staying longer. I have no doubt the company will continue
to be successful in the future, but I don't really want to be a part of it. More than 50% of the time, I wake up and
dread going to work in the morning.

If I didn't have to worry about losing relationships with people here, I would have probably left 4 months ago. I don't
plan on being in management long term as I enjoy being an engineer, and I know I could get double my salary elsewhere and
work in a space I care about. I also disagree with how some decisions are made and the company is run with my other cofounders, but that is more of a minor issue. I am torn because I really enjoy working with the people here, and I feel bad for leaving
early. Does anyone have advice on how I could leave pseudo gracefully, or offer advice if they've ever been in my shoes?

I am so intertwined with the company since I helped start it and I can't imagine leaving without burning bridges. I also know it would potentially cause people to lose morale, and I don't want to affect the company too much if possible.

How to gracefully leave a company you helped start?

Speak with the other partners in an open and honest manner. Explain as you have here, and provide a reasonable notice -- say 30 days in this case before departing. This is plenty of time to hire up, knowledge transfer, etc.

Also, if you desire, offer up a per hour consultant role, where you could be available on a per hour basis after your notice period expires. I assume you will seek earnings elsewhere, so make sure they understand your hourly support will be outside of normal business hours.

Your health and mental well being are paramount. I am actually super impressed that you worked for free and half your going rate for so long. Most people can only do that for so long, so don't feel bad that you have reached your limit.

And finally, you cannot control what other employees do after you leave.

Assuming that your leaving wouldn't be the death knell to the company, exiting gracefully means... exiting gracefully.

Let them know that your passion is elsewhere and that you want to find more balance in your life, that you wish them success and the best of luck, and that you hope to keep in touch with them as they continue to grow, and mature, and succeed.

If your leaving entices others to leave, then they already have reservations about the long term viability of the company. There's nothing you can do to change that... except to stay.

Too long for a comment, so I just drop it here. On top of @Mister Positive's good answer. I just want to add something from another perspective, because I was in similar situation before.

Your business partner may not be aware of the sacrifice you're making. If he/she isn't familiar with the software engineering market. He/She may not know that you'd make double else where.

Back then, my business partner didn't seem to believe that engineers at my level can make that much when I told him about it. He was polite enough to not question it, but the doubt was in his eyes.

Until I actually found a job that proved my point.

Things got a lot easier after that, of course he understand why I didn't want to work for the company we created anymore.