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.