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Choosing the right Co-founder for your business

Entrepreneurship, Key Topics - Posted: February 18, 2010

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This can be very tricky because getting someone that believes in your company, ability and your vision can be very hard, especially getting someone that is passionate enough to be a part of your company, but i urge you to try and get a co-founder on board.

It can really depend on the nature of the business also, sometimes you might have everything covered and not need a co-founder, but bringing a co-founder can be hugely instrumental, especially someone that has skills needed in your company that you lack.

Emotional Attachment

At the start of the company, i was very hesitate to let anyone near my business, as it was my first baby, i grew some kind of emotional attachment, i had offers from different friends that wanted to be a part of it, i really dint care as i knew the type of person i wanted on board, i needed someone that had as much passion or maybe more than me in the business.

Decision Making

You must have a co-founder that you can easily reach, incase you need to make a quick decision, someone that you have complete trust in making the right decisions if you’re not around, someone that will make the right decision.

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Trust

If you do not have complete trust in your co-founder then there is really no point in doing business with them, although most times you will build on your trust issues with your co-founder as time goes on, the more you work together and learn about each other.
In Almost 2 years of working with my co-founder, we continue to grow in trust and having trust in business simply brings rest to your mindset.

Costs/contact

Sharing cost on the company expenses can be huge for the growth and progress of your business.
You get to share each other’s contact in growing your business, contacts and networks that you might not have known or had a chance to meet are suddenly in front of you.

Understanding

You need to understand how you both work, how the person likes to work, the personality of your co-founder, if you do not understand your co-founder, you will end up wasting valuable time on un-necessary things such as arguing, doing the same work twice which will eventually takes its toll on the business, so go out of your way to understand your co-founder, try to get them, if you’re not compactable, then you have a decision on your hand.

Time & Focus

That means you get to spend less time doing something you’re not so good with and focus on your strong points and how to improve on it, you get to do more together in less times.
For me personally, getting a co-founder has been huge to my business, we’ve been through some rough and good times together already, i really just let him do his stuff which he kicks ass in, he manages the event planning side of the company, booking of holidays, enquires, while i focus on getting more properties on the website, building relationships with companies.
Although we both come together to make decisions and run other parts of the business.

An Almost Mistake

Because of my openness with my friends, i remember sitting them all down to tell them about the business, telling them i would love them to come board to help with the business, which would have been a bad idea, so I’m glad they all dint respond in the appropriate way, i hate laziness, lack of drive and passion.
But as soon as my co-founder told me his interest and i saw his commitment, i felt at ease, it made me realise that although this company is my baby, it was not about me anymore, but about the team, the vision and everyone that constantly help to build and take steps towards that vision.

Respect

You should both respect the opinions, views and personality of one another, although i respect my co-founder but that doesn’t mean i keep quiet when things are going wrong, or when we both miss the plot, I occasionally give him a piece of my mind when i need to and so does he.
Basically don’t miss-understand respect for being soft

Final Words

Sometimes business kills friendship, sometimes it makes it stronger, pick the right choice.

If you want more information on this, Neil Patel does a good job on explaining about it further, also @Techcrunch @Venturehacks @ spencerfry

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Joseph Ajilore

Apparently, I'm far more interesting in person. Co-founder of YHP and many other things.

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