If you can’t get along with your co-founder and business partner, your business is much less likely to succeed. Finding the perfect co-founder will take time, but it’s better to find “the one” than to go through a messy break-up later on. Even if you and your co-founder don’t agree, you should be able to discuss and communicate. I get that skills are important, and I don’t disagree, but if you don’t like your co-founder, it’s going to be a lot harder to work with them I believe that your co-founder’s character and morals are often more important than their skills. Steps for finding your co-founder Now that you know who to choose, how do you find them? Finding the right person is one thing, but even just finding someone who would be interested in becoming a startup co-founder can be difficult. Finding a potential co-founder is all about using your network. When you’re looking for a partner, you cannot network enough. You never know who will know of someone who is looking to create a startup and is the perfect match for your business. Check out other people’s profiles to find someone who has the right skills and personality to become your new business partner.
We’re raised from small children to think about who we would like to marry and spend the rest of our lives with.
But no one prepares you for the momentous decision of picking a co-founder for your startup business.
Some co-founders start out as friends who then decide to start a business together. Some co-founders choose one another for their varied skills.
There are many different ways to go about finding and choosing your co-founder.
One thing I do know is that you really want to think about this decision before you jump into it.
As you can see, the vast majority of startups have one or two partners. Almost 80 percent of startups have one or two founders, while just 23 percent have three or four founders.
No matter how many founders you have, there’s one thing that I know is true. You better be able to get along.
If you can’t get along with your co-founder and business partner, your business is much less likely to succeed.
Just like a marriage, when partners don’t get along, the divorce is messy and emotionally stressful for everyone.
So let’s go over my tips and tricks for choosing the perfect co-founder for your business. That way, you don’t have to make the same mistakes that others have made before.
Build trust
Yeah, yeah, I know that this one seems obvious. But it’s still important.
If you can’t trust your business partner, you better walk away right now. It will only get harder to separate the longer you’re in business together.
And this is a quality that might be harder to find than you think. American’s trust in others has steadily decreased over time, leading us to an all-time low today.
If those alarm bells are going off when you meet your potential co-founder, then it’s not the right person. Run away quickly.
If you have found the person that you think is your future co-founder, work on building trust and getting to know one another.
Don’t settle — choose perfection
You wouldn’t settle for marrying someone who wasn’t “the one,” would you? Don’t settle when choosing your co-founder, either.
Finding the perfect co-founder will take time, but it’s better to find “the one” than to go through a messy break-up later on.
If you’ve found someone who you think is your new co-founder, be real with yourself when assessing their potential faults and the drawbacks of working with that person.
Have a conversation about where you foresee potential pitfalls and discuss how you’ll handle them if they occur.
If you and your new co-founder can get through those tough conversations, then it’s probably OK to move forward.
Get as close to perfection as you can, and for those qualities that aren’t perfect, have a frank conversation to see if you can find a resolution before you begin.
Complementary skills
Please note that I didn’t say that you need a co-founder who will compliment your skills.
While we all like a high five for our strengths, what I mean is that you need a co-founder who has different strengths and skills from those that you have.
You want to make sure that you and your co-founder have different skill sets, but skills that complement one another.
For example, if you’re an idea guy, you’ll need someone who can handle the marketing, selling, and raising capital.
For those developers who are great at building awesome websites, but not great at networking and hiring employees, you need to find a co-founder who can pick up the slack.
When each co-founder has different strengths, you’ll have different knowledge bases that work well together but don’t step on each other’s toes.
Each of you has skills and strengths that make up for the other partners’ weaknesses.
Show empathy
Building a startup is tough.
No matter how close you are with your co-founder, creating a business from scratch is going to strain your relationship.When the strain starts to show itself, have empathy towards your partner.
When the strain starts to show itself, have empathy toward your partner.
Empathy isn’t considered a skill that most entrepreneurs have, so you may need to work on enhancing this aspect of your personality, but it will be worth it.
Empathy will help you and your co-founder to recognize that you’re both humans who make mistakes, get stressed, and can’t always be perfect.
Showing empathy might be interpreted as a weakness to some, but it actually helps you generate trust with your co-founder.
Your partners will recognize that you care about them as humans and not just about the business.
Have a plan to handle disagreements
Create a template of steps for working through disagreements. Planning ahead for potential problems will have a two-fold effect.
1. You already know how to react and respond to the disagreement when it arises.
2. The disagreement is less likely to arise because you have a game plan.
Opposites might attract
This might be a cliche in the world of dating and marriage, but for co-founders, it just might hold true.
Look for someone who will balance your skills and might be able to do the things that you can’t or aren’t good at.
There are a lot of skills and traits that are necessary as an entrepreneur. You might as well find someone who possesses the skills that you don’t.
For example, if you’re a young tech entrepreneur, maybe you need someone who has been in the startup industry for a long time and is great at raising capital through their network.
Finding your opposite in the startup world just might mean that you’ve found your match.
Have similar work habits
When you’re choosing a co-founder, you want to make sure that there are some similarities between you two.
You want to make sure that your co-founder is willing to put in the same amount of work that you do, work similar hours, and communicate in a similar style.
If you like to work a traditional schedule and be home to spend time with your kids by 5 p.m., it might be difficult to work with a co-founder who likes to roll in at noon and does her best work in the middle of the night.
Entrepreneurs traditionally work long work weeks. You want to make sure that your co-founder is willing to put in the necessary time.
Discuss your work habits and be honest with one another when you’re considering joining forces to create a startup business.
If you don’t match and…
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