Choosing a cofounder is kind of like choosing a life mate. Your future success, happiness, and fortune depend on the person you tap for the job.
Often, your cofounder will present himself naturally in the hustle of daily work. Other times, you’ll have to look hard for the right person. Here are the traits that I consider to be important in a cofounder.
1. Skills That Complement Yours
You don’t want your cofounder to be a replica of yourself. While it might be appealing to geek out together about the same things, you want someone who has a different skillset.
- If you’re a programmer, she should be a marketer.
- If you’re a designer, he should be a developer.
- If you’re an introvert, she should be an extrovert.
Look to the future of the business when you consider complementary skills. If, for example, you anticipate selling a product to the Latino community, you should identify someone with the ability to speak Spanish or who has experience in a Spanish-speaking market. If you know that you’ll need funding, find someone who can speak eloquently and persuade effectively.
One model for choosing a cofounder is the “one builds, one sells” approach. One of the cofounders is responsible for building the product. The other cofounder is responsible for selling the product. This complementary approach is a perfect model for many startups.
In non-skillset areas, you may share similarities with your cofounder. For example, if you both love Apple products, enjoy the outdoors, and prefer IPAs, that’s okay. Personal similarities are the basis of camaraderie. But when it comes to the work that you're doing together, it’s better to have an array of skills rather than a concentration of skills.
2. Alignment of Vision and Values
Mutual values and vision are difficult to identify, but crucial for compatibility. Before you commit to a partnership, make sure you and your potential partner are on the same page as far as the vision of the company and the values you hold.
More than likely, your cofounder will be a person with whom you’ve had shared experiences. Through such experiences “true motivations are revealed, not declared” (source). In other words, you know each other in more than just a superficial way.
You and your cofounder should both want the same thing. Whether your desire is to someday sell the business, become rich and famous, overtake
It’s easy to let the passion of a startup obscure a difference in values. If you’re both excited, then it’s all good, right? Not exactly. Below the surface, look for a match in values (what you consider important) and vision (your goals).
3. Eagerness to Learn
A good cofounder isn’t someone who has life figured out. Sure, you want someone who’s been around the block a few times. Experience is a great teacher. But the people best suited for the startup life are those who want to learn more.
In any startup, you’re going to learn. A lot. The more you learn, the more you’ll grow — personally and in business as well.
4. Energy
Startups are not for the faint of heart, weak of will, or slow of pace. Growth takes energy. Pivots take energy. Scaling takes energy. Survival takes energy.
Locate someone who has the physical and mental energy to pull through the tough times, hang on through the slow times, and grow at all times.
5. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence or EI “is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.”
General success in life is built upon the ability to effectively manage one’s emotions. In the rough-and-tumble environment of a startup, EI is especially crucial. It’s true that emotionally erratic people can make successful business leaders, but they usually don’t do it with a cofounder in tow.
Startup life gives you plenty of reasons to lose your cool, cuss people out, fly off the handle, or crumple in a whimpering heap of emotions. But startup success demands that you resist the urge, stay calm, and keep going.
If your cofounder prospect has emotional intelligence in his back pocket, consider it a major advantage.
6. Flexibility
Startup life is never boring. You could be hiring an employee in the morning, pitching your business to investors in the afternoon, and taking out the trash at the end of the day.
A company’s founders must be masters of flexibility, possessing the ability to do almost anything at almost anytime. If you can find someone who’s in love with this kind of pivot-always approach to life, you’ve found someone who has true cofounder grit.
7. Complete Honesty and Transparency
When you’re founding a company, there are plenty of ways to embezzle funds, sneak off with lots of cash, or otherwise do nasty and illegal things.
Because this is true, it’s important to find someone who is honest. Be straightforward about what you expect and desire in a cofounder, and insist on 100% honesty all the time.
Conclusion
You probably won’t be able to find a perfect cofounder. There’s no such thing, just as there are no perfect people.
You might pick a complete flop. Don’t worry. Life isn’t over after your first company or your first cofounder. Keep your head up, pick another cofounder, and start another company.
What’s your experience in selecting a cofounder?
