How to find the perfect Co-Founder
Forget the ‘I can do it all by myself’ bullshit. It’s time to acknowledge our weaknesses, and find the perfect business partner.
If we look at the typical software start up, often a startup ‘wantrepreneur’ will have a good business idea, but doesn’t have the technical knowledge to build the product. Or, the wantrepreneur has the necessary technical skills, but is lacking in general business understanding.
Firstly, I want you to know how important it is to have at least one other founder. As you read on, you’ll discover that this person is pivotal to raising money, developing a product and building a great company. In the start up game, execution is everything, therefore it is essential to have a well balanced team that have long term interest in your company.
Related: The vision behind the decision
If you’re still reading, then I’m assuming you’re on the hunt for a co-founder, or you’re about to be convinced to do so. Below I’m going to dive into the steps you need to take to ensure you ‘pick’ the right person and build a successful business you can be proud of.
Hopefully, this post will point you in the right direction.
Equal determination and a complementary passion.
Now that you’re in agreement that having a co-founder is a must, the next step most advise is to look for someone who has a complementary skill set. But in doing so, you overlook the most important reason of getting into business with someone — complimentary passion.
So what I’m about to suggest is potentially a bit left field, but it works.
First, you must find someone who has a desire to build/create a company for the same fundamental reason as you. A reason is not “I want to start an online company” or “I want to start a design consultancy” — rather, we need to look for why they want to do it.
Instead of “an online company” you may be wanting to build a business that creates sustainable residual income. Instead of a “design consultancy” you may be wanting to help people/companies with design related problems — That’s your Why.
Personally, when I set out on my on path at Bot the Builder, it was never about creating enterprise chatbots, it was about making it easier to communicate with large organisations as a consumer.
We all have a meaningful reason for going down the entrepreneurial path and this is what we have to understand and acknowledge this.
Find someone that aligns with this passion. That is step one.
Ensure that this person sees your blind spots
A common problem when finding someone who has a complimentary passion, is that they see the world through the same lens as we do. We think that this person is ‘perfect’ because they agree entirely with our vision and want to be there for the same reasons.
Why is this a problem, you ask? Because without a partner who views the world with a different lens, we can miss our blind spot. The blind spot contains issues and problems that are detrimental to our business, yet we are usually unaware of them.
For example, you may be a creative person, and see the world through this ‘creative’ lens. You may naturally be very good at visual representation, but you may miss how such creativity can be applied in a business setting — i.e. commercialising an idea is foreign to you. In this case, someone who sees the world through an opportunistic lens, would be potential partner material.
Once you find the person who has a complementary vision AND sees the world through a different lens, you have completed step 2.
Now, it’s time to assess their skill set…
When someone sees the world through a particular lens, you will often find that they also have a complimentary skill set — but not always.
To illustrate this, let’s continue with the fictional example we created above. Again, you’re a creative and see the world through a creative lens. Your skill sets include UI and UX design for web applications. While looking for a business partner you end up connecting with a woman called Jacinda. Jacinda has a complementary vision, she is business orientated and sees the world through an opportunistic lens. However, Jacinda is also a UI/UX designer…
Now, although Jacinda could learn a new skill to complement what you’re already good at, it would make MORE ideal to partner with someone with the skill set that you require. In this case, someone who can develop a business plan and market a product may be more appropriate.
You may still be wondering, why is this not the first step?
Here’s why:
If you go into business with someone who does not have an aligned vision, and does not see your blind spots, then your business will fail anyway.
One of the best business books of all time — Good to Great — the author Jim Collins findings show that you must get the right people on the bus, and then ensure that they are in the right seats.
The people/person on the bus must have a complementary vision and see one another’s blind spots. Their skill set must then place them in the correct position/seat, to contribute to the bus moving forward.
If you have successfully found the person who epitomises the three things above (complementary vision, a different lens, complimentary skill sets) then you completed step 3!
Except, there is one last thing to test…
Their ego has been left at the door.
When in business, conflict of some capacity is unavoidable. The play here, is to embrace it so that you become better and your company grows.
When choosing a co-founder you need to be able have a heated disagreement, come a solution and move forward.
Those that allow their emotions to cloud their judgement or take business decisions personally will negatively impact the growth of your company. It is imperative that your co-founder can put their ego aside when conflict arises, so that a unanimous decision can be reached.
Now I’m not suggesting that you should avoid people who create conflict, instead avoid the type of person who cannot accept their own mistakes and take responsibility.
If viewed in the correct light, conflict can be constructive — Egos will not.
When you find the person who aligns with your vision, views the world through a different lens, has a complimentary skill set AND does not have an ego, you have completed Step 4.
And you have found yourself someone who you could build a successful company with — Congrats!
From a personal stand point, I have been very fortunate to work with a team who epitomise the above. We are equally determined, view the world through different lenses and have complementary skill sets. On top of this, we often have disagreements, but we always come to a result that makes the company better off because of the initial conflict.
I hope this article helps you find the right business partner/Co-founder!
I’d love to hear your thoughts and personal experiences with this task, so please drop me a comment.
About the Author:
About the Author:
Mike is the CEO of JRNY.ai and a public speaker. You can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
