They say choosing a co-founder is more important than choosing a life partner. And rightfully so! You’ll probably be spending more time with your co-founder than your husband/wife.

While I’ve been blessed with a kickass co-founder at Alpha, I guess we’ve been lucky. It’s only recently I realized how lucky I’ve been. I am in the process of building a tech startup and I realized how difficult it is to find someone who complements you. There’s actually a lot of thought that goes behind choosing a co-founder. (On a side note, there should totally be a Tinder for founders! If someone has already built it, please leave a link below.)
Ultimate Guide To Finding Your Co-Founder
After careful research and years of first-hand experience, here are my two cents on the:

Ultimate Guide for Finding A Co-Founder

1. Have Complementary Skills

This one’s a no-brainer. If you come from a business background, then your co-founder should come from tech. This is a common preference from investors as well. However, it’s not a hard & fast rule. It’s very much possible to hire technical knowledge if you’re backed up properly. At Alpha, neither Asif nor I knew much about cooking. We could eat. But cooking? Most definitely not our strong suit! So hired an executive chef to bridge that knowledge gap.

2. Have Similar Backgrounds

Having similar age, background, position, work ethic, etc. is a BIG plus. If you two hold a day job – perfect! If neither of you does – even better! But if one of you has a day job and the other doesn’t, then it’s problematic. We’ll discuss more on these differences later on.

3. Date Your Co-Founder

Not “date” date. More like you and your potential co-founder should hack a secondary project before fully committing to work together. The project could be a landing page or an easily buildable product that might actually come in handy in the future.

4. Shared Passion & Vision

Let’s face it, without these two, your startup is going nowhere. You and your co-founder may disagree on which road you take on your journey to get to your ultimate destination but it is absolutely imperative that you two share a common vision. Both of you also need to be driven and motivated enough to see the vision through. It’s important to keep in mind that sustained motivation is more important here than bursts of short-lived excitement. 

5. Values Must Align

This one’s perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR. I’m sure you can tell with the all-caps shouting at you.  Most founder disagreements stem from a difference in underlying values. What I mean by values is the subtle things. Things like if you want to keep growing the company forever or sell it at some point, or it could be something as simple as how you want the company’s processes to be like – face-time vs remote, etc.

6. Consider Relationships & Health Conditions

These two are probably the least discussed between co-founders. If your co-founder is going through heartbreak/divorce/depression, then it IS going to affect your startup. Have a frank discussion about these issues upfront. Talk about any underlying health conditions too. 

7. Personal Relationship Outside of Work

Although it’s natural to think that two founders will hang out outside of work and become good friends, in some special cases it may not be possible. Say, for instance, one founder may prefer to keep their personal and professional lives separate. If such boundaries exist, it’s always a healthy practice to discuss the frequency of contact outside work and boundaries between work and personal lives. I would advise against being so “professional” though. It’s just weird to not talk about your personal life when you’re spending so much time with a person.

8. Ability to Take Criticism

It goes without saying that feedback makes all of us better. And you and your co-founder must have a mechanism in place that addresses this constructively. Before you choose a co-founder, make sure you also discuss what your tie-breaker or conflict resolution mechanism would be. It’ll make both of you better if you regularly give and receive constructive feedback.

9. Settle on Your Compromises & Non-negotiables

Having the mentality to compromise for the greater interest of your startup is something we humans find difficult when our ego takes over. Sometimes it’s more important for us to win an argument than actually figure out the optimal outcome. This shouldn’t happen. The interests of your startup must come before your own ego-stroking. So, both of you need to check your egos at the door when coming to work. Discuss this compromising mentality early on and, while you’re at it, try listing your non-negotiables. Certain things (ethics, religion, etc.) might be off-limits at all times. 

10. 50-50 Equity Split (!)

A 50-50 split between a technical and business co-founder isn’t really a bad place to start if both of you are bringing in similar levels of value to the table. However, if one founder brings in money and/or traction then the ratio might need some revising. There’s no scientific approach here. You just have to wing it on your gut feeling here and negotiate a win-win scenario.

11. Have a Vesting Agreement In Place

If both of you are starting together, make sure you have a vesting agreement signed. A vesting agreement is simply a contract that binds both of you to spend X number of years in your startup in order to receive your equity. You don’t want your co-founder to bail on you after a year and take a 50% equity with them while you bust your hump. A usual vesting agreement has a 4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff – meaning at the end of year 1, 1/4 or 25% of your and your partner’s equity will get unlocked. Another 25% after year 2, and so on and so forth.

12. Salary Agreements Should Be Clear

Founders should pay themselves some salary. The amount could be equivalent to the cost of living a decent life in the city you’re in but it can’t be the prevailing market rate for someone of your profile (you’re forgoing short-term cash for long-term upside potential, remember?). But you should consider taking some salary because, otherwise, you won’t know the true cost of running your startup.  It’s easier to compute salaries if both founders have similar circumstances. If both of you have day jobs, you can agree on a certain number of hours every day. But things get tricky when conditions differ – say one founder may have a family to support while the other doesn’t. The other founder probably lives with their parents or may live in a city where the cost of living is lower. In that case, a practical solution could be to settle on equal salaries after accounting for all living expenses. And by living expenses, I don’t mean spa treatments or avocado toasts. No luxuries are included here.

13. Take Your Time

Many a time we choose the first person who’s the closest to us. I see this common fallacy in school, college, and in uni even. Your best friend is not necessarily the best co-founder/teammate. When it comes to choosing your co-founder, be picky, be greedy. Take your time. 

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Pheww! I wasn’t kidding when I said choosing a co-founder is more important than getting married! Who knew you had to take care of so many aspects. Perhaps the process is indeed more taxing than getting married.

Your Feedback Matters

So, what do you think? Is finding a co-founder more demanding than finding a life partner? Any point that I missed that you would like to add? Drop your comments below.