Co-Founder Dating 101
We Met On An App
Finding a co-founder might feel urgent. Perhaps you are worried you lack essential skills or might give up if you don’t find someone to hold you accountable. Valid reasons. But it will hurt you so much worse in the long run if you don’t take your time.
After talking to over fifty founders over six months, co-founder conflict was the number one reason companies fail.
Not just your run-of-the-mill throw-everything-off-the-table and storm-out conflict. Company-killing-conflict.
Stories
Three of the four founders decided to stop working but remain employees, so their equity vests. One founder is left running everything on his own, and eventually needs to shut down a growing business because he can’t withstand the pressure.
Unlike his compatriot, one founder is very well-connected but uninterested in finding product-market fit. He thinks he can coast on the opinions of his high-status friends who are board members. Ultimately, the company fails.
Out of a team of three co-founders, the CEO is systematically voted against on decisions he feels strongly about, such as releasing the product to validate before it has gone through a million iterations. Ultimately, he leaves, and the company isn’t going anywhere.
Start small. Take your time to get to know them. Put them under a bit of pressure and see how they respond.
Everyone’s on their best behaviour until the gloves come off.