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.

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 :))).

The importance of having a Mentor!

A mentor can prove to be a very useful resource for a startup. A mentor can loosely be defined as a person who advises and hand-holds a startup team. Typically mentors are people who have successfully started up themselves in the past or may also be someone having expertise in particular domains like marketing, technology etc. Hence mentors can help startups in a variety of ways such as:

- making and refining the business plan and revenue plan

- assisting in hiring the right guys

- forming a mission, vision and culture

- advising in particular focus areas like technology, marketing etc.


Let's take an example of a new born baby. The parents are the ones who take care of the baby. They look after the baby's comfort, growth and all other aspects. They face challenges as it's new for them. They try to overcome them and also tend to make mistakes along the way. To mitigate these mistakes, you have the grand parents. The role of the grand parents is to share their experience and expertise so as to lower the chances of mistakes. They share the best practices which they have read about and experienced earlier.

The same analogy can be applied to a startup. The role of the mentors is to share best practices and expertise to ensure that the founding team can grow their startup in a more efficient manner. Founding teams bring in the idea, the energy, the time and the persistence. Mentors add the expertise and experience. So for a better more complete startup team, mentors are a must have.

The Importance of a Good Founding Team!!!

This is a very sore point for me. I cannot emphasize enough how important a good founding/management team is. Currently I have some good ideas in my mind and have this great urge to start out again on one of them, I am just staying back because I don't have and am not currently being able to build a good team around the idea. I believe that ideas contribute around 30% of a startup's success, the rest comes from the ability to execute the idea. And to execute well, you need a 'good team'!

Let's take an analogy to understand this. In raising a child, the mother and father both have a significant role to play. The mother can provide the child with the warmth, love, care and the finer things in life. The father is more responsible for the safety, comfort and the more basic needs of the child (this is generally the case and differs totally from case to case :). Hence, the parents need to jointly complement each other and provide the child an environment where the latter can fully grow and realise his/her potential. Same is the case in a startup as well. Founders, with complementary skills, need to come together and create a structure and culture in which the business can grow and flourish. Skill sets of the initial team are key. For example, in the case of a Online Tea Retailing company, ideally founders should have the following skills within the team:
Online - Technology Expertise
Tea - Domain Expertise
Retailing - FMCG Retailing Expertise
Not necessarily will all teams have all requisite skills. But I suggest that each founding team should try to incorporate as many skills as we can within the team as it betters the chance of success.

Startups are all about risk. A good team is a big factor which can help mitigate the risks involved. So the better the team, the better will be the execution and the better the chance of building a sustainable business.