Don’t settle with a co-founder

Life is too short to get the wrong co-founder

First things first, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t get a co-founder. In fact, you should get one, but don’t ‘settle’ with one, just like you won’t ‘settle’ with a marriage.

After my first startup , Shopo , failed, I understood why having the wrong co-founder(s) would destine your startup towards failure. I’m using ‘wrong’ co-founder because even great talents may not be the right co-founder for your startup. To co-found a startup, the co-founders have to complement each others skills in order to build a ‘A’ team.

Here, I list out my opinions based on what I’ve learnt, some important things to take note while getting your next co-founder.

1. Don’t get your BFF

BFF (Best friends forever) or best friends are not the best person to be your co-founder, this has been said by many founders, VCs and advisors. The reason is simple, your best friends might not have the skills that your startup needs. If you think it’s not a problem, you will find out later that it’s wrong. Imagine if both of you are business oriented and none of the founders can code for the MVP.

Next, being best friends does not mean both of you are the best partners at work. Working together as partner require a lot of mutual understanding and chemistry, when one say “I can’t do this”, the other will say “no problem, I will handle this.” This has to happen vice versa, so that the partners don’t fight for who do what, and can complement each others when is needed.

Starting up together may break a friendship. This had happened in many startups that failed. Your best friends will always stand by your side and say what you love to hear, but may not necessary be good for you. When money, work, negotiation and compromises come along, your friendship will start to crumble.

Make your co-founder your best friend but don’t make your best friend your co-founder.

2. Beware of ‘speaker’ and ‘celebrity’

A first-time entrepreneur or a desperate founder is easily lured by a person who talks a lot but never perform. It’s great to have a person who is outspoken, but if that person loves to speak, give ideas but never execute anything, you should avoid working with him.

“I can do better than that, if I want to.” This is a warning sign if someone says this to you. It’s sounds impressive at first when the person shows confident. But, look closely if that person really produce something after some time. If not, sorry, the person is most likely a ‘speaker’.