My cofounder wants to raise. I want to stay bootstrapped. This might end us.

Two years in. $8.2K MRR. Growing 12% month over month. Could probably hit $20K in a year if we keep going.

My cofounder wants to raise a seed round. Hire faster. Go bigger. "Think about what we could do with $1.5M."

I want to stay bootstrapped. Keep it lean. Own 100% of what we're building. "Think about what we keep if this works."

We've had this conversation 6 times in the last 2 months. Each time it gets more tense.

His argument: We're leaving opportunity on the table. Competitors are raising. Speed matters. We could capture market share now and optimize later.

My argument: We don't have product-market fit yet. Raising money won't fix that. It'll just give us more rope to hang ourselves with. We should hit $30K MRR bootstrapped before even considering it.

Neither of us is wrong. We just have different risk tolerances and different visions.

I don't know how this ends. Maybe we find a compromise. Maybe one of us buys the other out. Maybe we split.

The thing nobody tells you about cofounders: early alignment on money, risk, and exit expectations matters more than complementary skills. You can hire for skills. You can't hire for aligned ambition.

Anyone been through this? How did you resolve it?