remember that these are your friends. When handling an ethical dilema think about how you would feel if you were one of the people affected by the decision about to be made. What if you were one of the friends that was buying the business?
Maybe a better thing to do is reduce your work-load to part time status. During this time you can work the other two guys into what you are doing. The clients you have contracted would get a chance to meet and work with the other two guys, and they might not be so POed about your leaving. Your clients should be able to understand that while they may like working with you, they are buying your company's services and not you in particular. All the clients really want is safety and security of knowing that they will get the same service when you are gone. As cool as you may be, I don't think they are necessarilly worried about missing your wonderful personality.
