Co-Founding Risks and Benefits

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You may have heard that Silicon Valley venture capitalists prefer co-founding teams over single founders.  This is often because a mixture of skills is necessary to make a company successful.

For example, an engineer with the product may need someone with business skills to make the company thrive.  A MBA may need someone with specialized skills.  The reasons vary, but the benefits are diverse, as the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

If you go this route, be aware that it's not without risk.  Those who have a co-founder relationship often work harder maintaining their relationships than they initially expected.  Worse still, choosing the wrong co‑founder can easily damage the future of the company or even quickly spell its doom.

So, if the risks are so high, why have a co-founder at all?

• There's someone around to help you maintain your focus and enthusiasm.
• You can bounce ideas off him or her, and see what makes sense to someone else.
• Producing better quality work comes more naturally.
• Personal strengths can be utilized more effectively.

Making your company thrive is about more than breaking even or having the right ideas.  It's about the founding team having the right things done at the right time for the right reasons - in a word, it's all about execution.

Finding the right co-founder is without any doubt the most important  decision that will be made during the early stages of any start-up company.  It is critically important that this decision not be rushed.  Ideally, more than one candidate will be considered, but the situation with every company is unique, just as people are unique.  Thankfully, there’s a common pattern.

What do you need in a co-founder?

• Great organizational skills, including “soft” skills.
• Strong familiarity with the industry.
• Similar values and interests.
• Similar execution styles.
• Differing but contrasting and complementary skills.  (Think yin/yang)

A solid founding team sets the stage not only for success now, but in the future as well.  Is there something (or someone) missing in your big picture of success?

Written in association with +Rob Gordon.