Recently I've been thinking about a problem I'd like to solve - **how to build better cofounder relationships**.
https://blog.louisnicholls.com/ideas/building-an-awesome-cofounder-team/
Recently I've been thinking about a problem I'd like to solve - how to build better cofounder relationships.
It started when I noticed that founders are really bad at finding the right cofounder and building a successful relationship with them.
Not only does this kill a lot of otherwise successful startups, but most of these mistakes would be so easy to avoid with just a bit of education and support.
I've written a detailed blog post about it here.
If you're in this situation now or have been in the past, I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback and questions.
Thanks!
#feedback
I'm surprised that nobody mentions the obvious solution to problem your highlighting:
No cofounder - no problems!
:-)
Ha that's true - although it's a bit like saying
no head - no headache!;)But on a serious note, it would be interesting to actually deal with data on this subject. I know that it's favorable to have multiple cofounders if your planning to raise money. But it seems that there is only one reason for this - investors feel safer to invest in multiple founders.
If I remember correctly, startup is less likely to survive with multiple founders versus just one (I don't have a link to back up this claim though). And that was exactly my experience in multiple projects with other cofounders.
I also had a class on how brain functions and its structure -- and one particular 'lesson' stuck in my mind. You can take brains of two different humans and compare - those will look like from different species. Wolf and fox have more in common than two humans.
So my common advice would be not to look for any cofounders. Humans are hard!
So far I haven't found any data on this from non-VC-backed startups.
I'm putting some thought into answering this question properly, but for now here's a quote from Paul Graham which pretty neatly encapsulates my thoughts...
It's interesting that your quoting an investor... And one that I strongly disagree with in a lot of cases.
I dealt with all these issues without a cofounder.
I have a bigger list of reasons not to have a cofounder, just out of my own experience (I had three projects that started out quite nicely, but due to certain issues with co-founders - we dissolved the company or I left and they slowly died)
Those are all good ways to compensate for not having a cofounder.
I definitely agree that it's possible to build a company without a cofounder (or with early employees who are cofounders in all but name).
What would you say are your top reasons for not working with a cofounder?
I'm asking because my current opinion is something like
a cofounder relationship done badly/with the wrong person is worse than being a solo founder, which in turn is worse than a cofounder relationship done well with the right person.Yeah I've seen that article come up a few times - the startups they are measuring are pretty extreme in terms of "success" (conditions are a lot of funding or an exit which was notable enough to receive press coverage). Not sure if that makes a difference, but it's something that's worth bearing in mind.
I had other, smaller annoynaces, but these three have been big issues in different businesses I've been a part of.
Ok great, really appreciate you taking the time to put down your thoughts.
IMO the first two points can definitely be overcome with the right mix of education and groundwork. The last point could just be a case of choosing to work with the wrong person, but is solvable in many cases as well.
That's not to say you should have a cofounder - just that most of the drawbacks to having a cofounder are quite easily solved if you know how and are willing to put in some time.
Easily solved?
I will stop here and wish you luck in this journey, Louis.
And I actually found an article with stastics on this topic
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/
The best way I found to have a successful co-founders team is to work on the divorce papers :).
Examples:
The longer it takes to reach product/market fit, the longer it takes to see steady increase in MRR, the more strain it puts on the relationship.
Don't be afraid to go through 2 or 3 changes in founding members before getting there. It is perfectly normal, no different from the early years of a successful rock band. You just need to make sure equity will be there to handle the team rotation.
Founder's dilemma has some good thoughts on the psychology of motivations. I also agree with some of the comments about working through the divorce papers before getting married - it builds trust and honesty with feelings. There are three aspects when finding a cofounder in my experience 1) alignment of goals and 2) alignment of skills that you need and 3) alignment of trust. Radical candor and articulations of philosophical disagreements are super important. Money and success do weird things to people, and if everyone is on the same page about the inherent control they are willing to give up in order to accommodate a cofounder, and what that means, it puts you in a much better position to have an open and honest relationship where everyone (including you) know your worth and what's expected to succeed.
Good points in there.
What I'm most interested in right now is maintaining a cofounder relationship once you've set it up. That's where people tend to stop putting in the work and end up drifting apart or fighting.
Completely agree with your points on the set up though. Thanks!
Yep, it's a constant challenge. We have regular feelings check-ins, and work hard to articulate when something the other does pisses us off. I kind of celebrate the honesty because I know that comes from a place of respect
Awesome. Would you be willing to talk about what works for you guys and what challenges you've had to overcome?
Either as a text interview, podcast or just a background info call?
I really want to start bringing these conversations into the open, so new founders don't make the same mistakes we did...
Of course - any or all of the above. always happy to.
I've been in this situation many times, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. This is something I'd like to solve too! If you need any help, let me know...
That's been my experience too. Part of what drew me to this problem is that nearly every experienced founder I know has been through this at least once.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, will shoot you a DM on Twitter. Thanks!
Hi Louis,
I've read your post! Cool reading!
I definitelly agree with you that this is an issue and a really big one too. Tackling this problem might be quite a task.
There is a platform called CofoundersLab: https://cofounderslab.com/
I have used it for some time (even paid for it). It has it's pros and cons, but it is definitelly something you should check out.
You mentioned 2 problems in your post: monetizing and educating community. I would add one more - getting the critical number of relevant people on the platform.
I admire you for trying to solve this issue - at the moment me and my team are more in b2b types of products, where we will hopefully be able to monetize sooner.
If I can help in any way please don't hesitate to contact me. Here is my email: ivan@drei.one.
Good luck! :)
Thanks for the link and your thoughtful feedback!
You're absolutely right - if I'm going to build some kind of cofounder matching platform then this will definitely be a challenge. Thanks!
Interesting - why do you say that?