Do You Feel What I Feel? Shared Cognition, Shared Affect and Co-Founder Exits

Abstract

Extant research on co-founder exits presents contradicting results: exits can either lead to venture failure or enhance the effectiveness of the remaining team. Using in-depth, qualitative case studies of dynamic affective interactions and follow-up interviews from nine founding teams over twenty months, we examine how differences in team shared affect and cognition before a co-founder exit subsequently impacts how cofounders exit, and the impact of their exit. We develop a model of affective and cognitive dynamics in the co-founder exit process and identify how patterns of shared affect and cognition cause different team vulnerabilities leading to differing team behaviours which in turn influences team conflict, exit speed, co-founder commitment and co-founder relationships. Our findings have important implications for co-founder exit literature, we propose why some exits lead to failure while others improve the venture overall.