Hiring a Co-Founder

Probably the first very important task of an entrepreneur, building a strong founding team. An entrepreneur should first sit down and identify what skills would be required to execute the business idea well. Once you have the skills listed down, you can start the process.

Look Within your Network: You know the skills you require. Start looking within your network of family, friends and acquaintances. Finding someone you already know is beneficial as you already have some background about the person.

Listing on Websites: There are various websites for finding cofounders, some being https://www.cofounderslab.com, angel.co, http://hiringdecoder.com.

Networking: Start joining clubs and networks in your country which are based on themes/skills which are required by you. For instance, in Beveragewala, we were looking for someone with Tea/Coffee retailing experience. I had joined the different Tea/FMCG marketing groups in Delhi & Mumbai to meet and identify people who could possibly join us.

Events: Attend startup events and try to meet as many people as you can who may be interested in startups. Keep pitching your idea to people who interest you. You never know when and where you might find the right one.

Take your time in identifying the right person to join you. Do not hurry this up as it is very crucial to induct someone who will be a good fit. Also in the meanwhile, keep pushing the idea yourself.

Having Too Many Co-Founders

A good founding team is a very important part of a good business plan. Co-founders bring in a multitude of skill sets which help in executing and growing the business idea. So does that mean the bigger the team, the better it is? The answer is no.

During Bitequest, I started it as a single founder. I soon asked a friend to join in. Sometime later we got another two to join us. Once we were 4 in number, the growth did increase but so did the conflicts. There were constant conflicts in how we should work and grow our startup. This led to a lot of discontent amongst the team members and eventually was a big reason for me exiting the startup.

Co-founders do bring their skill sets to the table. However, with the skills, they bring in their experiences, vision, mindset and emotions as well. These variables of one co-founders interact with the variables of the other co-founders. In big teams, with so many variables interacting, a conflict or clash of variables is bound to happen, leading to eventual destruction of value in some way or the other.

Personally, I feel a team of 2 is ideal. However, is there is a need of additional skill sets, the number can go upto 3 at maximum.

Finding a Co-Founder!

This is one of the common problems we face when we startup. Since we have limited resources and skills, we need complementary ones to make our team more complete.

The common ways of starting your search include the following:

- We need to start off by first identifying what we are looking for in a co-founder. We need to write down a very clear description of who my ideal co-founder would be like, his/her qualities, skill sets and what we expect him/her to bring to the table. Also we need to clearly write what we will offer in return. This description should be very precise and attractive as this will be used to generate interest of potential co-founders in your startup.

- Once we have a description, We have a tendency to first look within our friends and family groups. It's fine to start here as you already have an understanding of the people and vice versa, However, we need to clearly assess whether any of these people are adding value to the startup and to make sure there are no biases which become part of my decision.

- We should also start uploading the description we have written onto our own blog and other platforms which connect co-founders. We should try to reach out to as many people as possible so that we can get more applications, thereby making our decision making easier. Promotion of our story through social media and other blogs can also be good options to spread the word.

- Startup events are also places which budding entrepreneurs frequent. Attending events, networking with others and telling your story can prove very useful.

Finding a co-founder can prove to be a long and tedious task. Owing to the importance of the founding team, we need to ensure that this is done comprehensively and a co-founder should be selected based on skill sets and fit and not based on desperation and anxiety.

Finding a spouse or a co-founder, is it any different?

A co-founder is like a spouse in many ways. You need to form a healthy relationship with both to ensure longevity of the same. Some similarities include:

- both demand and deserve attention and respect
- ideally you and your partner should have complementary skills (for the sake of the child or the startup)
- to sustain either relationship, you and your partner should have aligned goals and visions
- overall, there should be a good personality fit in either case or else there would be conflicts
- before being a partner, either should be a friend you can trust

Keep looking till you find a good fit in both cases (also it would be great if your co-founder and your spouse can be the same person. saves time :))).