Lions and Tigers and Cofounders, Oh my!
Growing up, my parents always said “Choosing your husband is the most important decision of your life.” Well, mom and dad, choosing your cofounder is right up there with it.
There are 168 hours in a week. The average entrepreneur clocks in 95 hours. Take about 42 hours out for sleep and you’re left with 31 hours to cook, clean, workout, watch Netflix, and just be a human. Of your awake hours as an entrepreneur, you spend a whopping 75% of your time working. And guess who’s with you through it all? Your cofounder.
When you’re spending 75% of your time with someone, there’s bound to be arguments. Annoyances will build and your relationship will be put to the test. Somedays, your cofounder will drive you to your wits’ end. Trust me — I’ve considered killing mine on many occasions but thankfully, I haven’t just yet.
Cofounders are awesome. They bring a different perspective to every problem, do what you can’t, and if you’re lucky, they’ll be one of your closest confidants and best friends. But, cofounders aren’t always awesome. Some days, you’ll disagree on what color your logo should be, how to handle a major business problem, or feel like you’re putting in 85% of the work, 50% of the time. It can suck.
Having a cofounder is a lot like a rollercoaster ride. Sometimes you’re grinding to the top of a hill together in sync, making it up slowly but surely and the next second, you’re screaming your heads off and everything feels like it’s going down. One of the biggest lesson I’ve learned over the last 6 months is you have to throw your hands up and enjoy the ride because things will never be perfect and when they are, it won’t last long.
A couple weeks ago, my cofounder and I hit what I like to call a loop in our rollercoaster ride. Things were all over the place. We were at the height of planning the second season of our podcast and stressed to the max. Things had built up between us — we had some major differences. This was my wits’ end moment.
Before we started recording, I took a big deep breath and said Can I just be honest with you? After holding in frustrations for the past 6 months, I let it all out. I told my cofounder everything that I had found frustrating during our work sessions. He gave me open and honest feedback too. The feeling at the end of this conversation was unlike any other. We couldn’t stop smiling and the episode we recorded was the best to date. This conversation was a turning point for us, not only as business partners but as friends.
The lesson I learned is cofounders can always be awesome if you have open communication and honesty. Don’t hold back — be yourself and say what you’re feeling. After all, you’re spending 75% of your time with this person. Make every second awesome.
P.S. James, I promise I’ll never actually kill you. 😉 You’re the best.
