Who is the right cofounder for you? 2.3
Who is the right cofounder for you? Series 2/3 values
Have you ever been in a situation where you spent hours and hours talking about which way to go and you couldn’t agree - only later to find out that everybody actually wanted to go somewhere else? Literally or metaphorically.
In the founder divorces I have been a direct or indirect witness to, I would assign 80% of those to:
Unfair equity splits
Non aligned values, vision and mission
Not having data driven mind enough to give you exact split - let's just agree that the not aligned values, vision and mission is BIG among the divorces reasons.
With the prevention mindset, this is actually one which is NOT TOO DIFFICULT to address! Great news!
So how do you do it?
Raise awareness about the importance of this topic for all cofounders - from my practice 99% of serial entrepreneurs do not blink an eye on this topic - or maybe blink a lot - sharing stories of companies lost because of this reason. They understand why it is so important for future cofounders to talk about it. 80% of first time entrepreneurs will tell you (me) that yeah, nice, all good, but I have no time for this. I need to fundraise / finalise prototype / get the market validation / you name another milestone… So depending on your own cofounders mix - get everyone on the same page first.
Have those conversations!
There is a lot we can actually find out if we engage in an active dialog! You can use the cofounder worksheet to help you with the questions and topic - both to get started and to make sure no important topics will be left aside. The best way to have this conversation is for all the (potential) cofounders to answer the questions - alone and individually, taking enough time to think about it. Then get together and discuss your answers. You will very clearly see if there are any areas which can in the future lead to misalignment and conflict.
Align or exit
And now is still the time that you can safely decide if you can find a common ground or whether it is better for you to thank each other and go separate ways. Very often the work I do with founders results in the teams changing shapes, either in founders or their roles. And it is usually a great result that would have likely happened in the future anyway - but would have been much more disruptive. This way you can accelerate trust building, getting to know each other and ensure alignment where needed. Or part ways with no harm done.
