Pangea: When Creativity Gets In the Way of Practicality

Pangea is an App that allows users to offer or request freelance jobs. The company, Pangea.app, was founded in 2016 by three American college students. Each co-founder has made his share of contributions to the start-up. However, as the young company grows, a rupture between the co-founders has emerged. Even though Jeremy came up with the initial idea for Pangea, he is also fully committed to another part-time job. Adam and John feel that his involvement does not match theirs and will be a problem if the company grows further. Adam and John believe that Jeremy, who holds a significant equity stake as well as high decision power but who is not doing much, needs to leave the company. They are conflicted on how to proceed without damaging their longstanding friendship with Jeremy. This case revolves around the themes of co-founder relationship, roles of co-founders, co-founder equity split, co-founder motivations, co-founder commitment levels, past and future contributions, and co-founder-employee relationships.