Last summer I teamed up with a colleague to found a startup because we were both very interested in entrepreneurship and wanted to explore it together. Since then we've been quite succesful on the business side, with our business plan being awarded a small amount of no-strings-attached funding. Since then we've pivoted to an industry I'm liking less and while also working on my MSc thesis (I'm a master student and the other guy is a bachelors student finishing up) I found the workload being too high and I'm not sure if entrepreneurship is for me at this moment.
The thing I'm struggling with is that we've built some collaborations with other startups and I'm very afraid of disappointing my cofounder and partners. How do I break this news to him in the best way possible and allow him to continue if he wants to.
Extra info: We've found a market with customers willing to co-develop our solution for their market, we have a small amount of funding with no expectations and we have only just started developing the technology necessary. We are colleagues in our part time jobs at a company which has agreed to partner with us (not the customer, but a company with good expertise and network with the relevant tech). I was supposed to be the CTO and he the CEO. We are not incorporated so no formal split is necessary.
If more info is needed, please let me know. I value all input.
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