What do you look for in a co-founder? 👫

André J
22 replies
Here are some of the attributes I personally look for: **Grit** Grit involves the passion and perseverance to achieve long-term and meaningful goals, as well as the ability to persist in something you feel passionate about and to persevere when faced with obstacles. Grit is also about perseverance, which means sticking with it and continuing to work hard even after experiencing difficulty or failure. **Drive** Drive is a planned effort to achieve something, while motivation is defined as "the willingness to do something, or something that causes willingness." Although both words are goal-oriented, they have significant differences in meaning. **Spike** To demonstrate a spike, a founder should show talent and focus on one or two main interests. This can help differentiate them from others and provide a unique value proposition. What do you look for when looking for a co-founder? 🙏👇

Replies

Business Marketing with Nika
All above mentioned are essentials. I also look at results achieved or something that can prove that the person has successfully scaled something so far. The projects he/she worked on, how long he/she worked there, and what expertise was acquired. Then stability, prudence in decisions, and things like that. Diversity is crucial so for me was better to have at least 3 co-founding people. 4 was ideal.
Share
André J
Launching soon!
@busmark_w_nika "prudence in decisions" 🥰... 4 cofounders? Won't it quickly become "design by committee"? Instead of burning the midnight oil 😅
Share
Business Marketing with Nika
@sentry_co More people can mean more struggles but also more personalities that are needed. Like ingredients in the soup.
Share
André J
Launching soon!
@busmark_w_nika There is some data on this. Interestingly the data suggests more founders equals more likelihood of making a unicorn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/l... (but using crunchbase as the data source is 😅 )
Share
Ryan Zhang
In a co-founder, I seek someone with complementary skills and a shared vision, ensuring we can both inspire and challenge each other to push the boundaries of what's possible. It's about finding that balance between mutual respect and relentless pursuit of innovation.
Share
Divine Rivers
Complementary skills, cold-hearted belief in the vision, someone I enjoy to be around, and a do-er that gains sweat equity in the fact that they take ownership and accountability in their action. Essentially doesn't make excuses, gets things done, puts in the effort, not afraid to have hard discussions without taking it personal, and is committed to we're in this as a team mantra. The reality is your cofounder relationship is like a marriage and to boil it down to only a couple attributes is futile
Share
André J
Launching soon!
@divine_rivers1 "cold-hearted belief in the vision" 🥰 Have you ever found such a co-founder? Sounds like a beast!!!
Share
Giacomo Bretel-De Simone
Co-Founder must be smart, highly driven/motivated, cool/honest & fun to work with
Share
Nolan Wang
A really really good looking guy @christopher_u_han
Share
Ruben Boonzaaijer
Someone with complementary skills
Share
Cara (Borenstein) Marin
Love this. I'd also add that trust is very important and takes time to build. Your co-founder relationship will last many years through ups and downs. You want to make sure you trust your co-founder and have strong communication.
Share
regan pung
A guy who holds the same conviction as you do!
Share
Max
The shared vision is the most important.
One that is commonly overlooked is each founder's personal pressures and goals. One time I had to separate from my co-founder because one of us was running out of savings much earlier than the other.
Share
André J
Launching soon!
@jgani Yes. Very good point! And same here, there has to be alignment in life paths. I had to go another way once as well for this reason.
After the basic such us skills etc.. I look to see his personality and if he is a genuine person! I recommend the book principles by Ray Dalio, it is pretty good to answer this question
André J
Launching soon!
@kchris22 I'm curious: What's your key takeaway from principles?