Three important aspects when looking for a co-founder

Kevin and I have been working together for a little less than a year now. We started tinkering with the idea of leaving our jobs and venturing out on our own since April of 2019. We decided that we wanted to work on a couple of pilot projects before we go all in and found a company together. So naturally, and similar to dating, I started paying attention to the question of what's actually important to me when building a company with someone else.

I settled on three major factors thus far.

1. Complementary skillsets

"One builds, one sells.", says Naval Ravikant. I don't know if I would make such a black and white distinction, but certainly you gotta have complementary strengths. If you have two people with the same skillset you end up with disagreements every step of the way. Even though Kevin and I are both marketers, he comes from a more data analytics and product centric side, while I have my strengths in the areas of lead generation, content creation, and qualitative research.

2. Alignment on the motives for building the company

What's the underlying motive for building the company? Is it money, fame or simply building a useful product? Most of the time its a mix, but nevertheless regularly aligning on why you are embarking on this adventure together is crucial. Else, you'll find that instead of pulling together on the same side of the rope, you're engaged in a tug of war for internal resources, which is definitely not the point.

3. Alignment on personal core values

Warren Buffet said it right. "Find someone with high intelligence, energy and integrity". However, all of those terms are subjective in my opinion and need to fit with your personal idea of what manifested high intelligence, energy and integrity looks like. Also from Warren: "Make sure they believe in the mantra that nice people finish first". I could not agree more. Yes you might be able to have success working together with bullies and narcissists. But do you really want to? I think in the long-term it will backfire and lead to serious problems both mentally, and emotionally for everyone involved.

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