Here’s something many hustlers hate to hear. It may be impossible to swing a gig solo.
When you work independently, you maintain complete control over your project, and you pocket all the profits.
However, a partnership may be the thing that allows your product to perform at its best by bringing two great minds together with one shared purpose – To make money!
But it’s important not to partner up with the first person you find. You must insist on finding the best co-founder for you and your business. For me, finding a partner (the right partner) filled in all the little gaps, most I wasn’t aware were there.
This week, we will teach you how to find your perfect partner!
This week’s newsletter brings you:
- Trends – Interested in the data behind successful partnerships? We bring you the latest trends when it comes to business co-founders.
- Strategies – This week, you will learn how to find the right co-founder to help your hustle grow. We will discuss the pros and cons of working with a partner and review some examples of successful business partnerships.
- Tools of the Week – Not sure how to find your co-founder? Join a community of like-minded people with Startup School’s co-founder program!
But enough talk, it’s time for action!
Trends
Who is more likely to be a co-founder; men or women? What kind of education are they likely to have? Is it better to side hustle solo or team up with someone who has another skill set? We’ve found all the data so that you don’t have to! Enjoy.
Number of Unicorn Founders
You know the old saying ‘to many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth’? Well it seems that’s not the case when it comes to founding billion dollar companies! In fact, 78% of billion dollar companies have more than one founder. It just goes to show, sometimes two heads are better than one!
Top Co-Founder Skill Areas
Engineers seem to be in high demand. Among founders who do not do Engineering, 80% prefer a co-founder who does Engineering.
Engineers are also looking for complementary skills though: 74% of Engineering founders prefer a co-founder who does Sales and Marketing, and 53% of Engineering founders prefer a co-founder who does Operations.
Co-Founders by Gender
According to Zippia, there are over 45,730 co-founders currently employed in the United States. Of those founders, 34.0% of all co-founders are women, while 66.0% are men.
Co-Founders by Education
The most common degree for co-founders is bachelor’s degree 73% of co-founders earn that degree. A close second is master’s degree with 15% and rounding it off is associate degree with 5%.
Strategies
With the numbers out of the way, we can focus on this week’s topic: Why you need a co-founder for your side hustle and how to find the best one.
Working with a co-founder vs. remaining independent: pros and cons
Work on your own or find a co-founder? This might seem like a weird question given this week’s topic, but we wanted to present both sides. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each approach:
Pros and cons of being a single founder
The perks and negatives of working solo:
- There’s less drama, but every move comes back to you
There are several stories of co-founders disagreeing and fighting over every choice. Egos can spiral out of control, and co-founders may stand in firm opposition regarding the long-term direction of the company. Often, this results in a contentious split, putting the firm in danger.
Doing everything solo means you have complete control, but only you have control. You will make every decision, and you will face every consequence alone. Daily worrying about making the right decision will affect your mental health. Sharing that burden makes things less stressful.
- You can move faster, but you’ll get tired of making all the decisions
When you can decide without consulting others, you may move rapidly to make that decision a reality.
But, decision fatigue is real. It’s exhausting when you’re the only one making significant decisions. It’s easy to make careless decisions when you’re tired of calling all the shots.
- You’ll have a clearer direction, but it’ll be harder to brainstorm big ideas
When there is only one person piloting the ship, it is easier to see where it is going and who is in charge. When a corporation lacks clear direction, it is far more difficult for everyone on the team to know where to focus their efforts.
But when thinking of the big picture, having a handful of co-founders thrash out a concept or speak through why something might or might not work is helpful. As a sole founder, you don’t have that. You can delegate that task to others on your team, but it will be less productive.
Pros and cons of working with a co-founder
The perks of working with a co-founder and the downsides:
- You have someone to support you, but dividing up work can be tricky
You and your co-founder will be a team in good times to celebrate victories and a team in hard times to support one another, which can make a huge difference.
On the other hand, figuring out who is in charge of what might lead to squabbles, even more so if your partner has similar skills to you.
- Two brains are thinking together, but it can be hard to stay aligned over time
Co-founders are excellent for discussing business ideas and obstacles. Rather than depending solely on your own intellect, working with a co-founder allows you to bounce ideas off one another and gain a fresh perspective. Two heads are better than one, and the other head is useful for double-checking your ideas.
However, as the company grows and evolves, so will your personal opinion of where the company should go. If your co-founder has a different idea in mind, this could be a problem.
Photo by fauxels
- You have a wider resource pool, but disagreements can arise
In the best-case scenario, you and your co-founder will have separate spheres of influence, backgrounds, and relationships. Joining forces will allow you to make a larger impact and scale faster.
However, these same differences can end up causing disagreements. Not everyone thinks the same way, and conflicts are a common issue that fractures co-founding teams.
Resources:
Pros and Cons of Founding a company solo or as a team by Grey Journal
Finding a co-founder that complements your skills and personality
You can adopt different strategies to find a co-founder that fits your vision. When looking for someone to work with, make sure to consider the following:
What are you looking for
Starting a side hustle comes with many unknowns. Is your concept marketable? Do you solve a problem? Is technology advanced enough to make your vision a reality? While there is no foolproof method for converting your idea into a genuine business, a detailed approach is always best. The same holds true for selecting the ideal co-founder. Layout a partner plan – Who are they? What are their skills? How will they enhance what you already have?
Put yourself out there
Connecting with the appropriate individuals is the key to finding the perfect co-founder. Existing networks play a critical role in bringing people together as a team. However, this does not mean prior work experience or an established network is required to find a co-founder. It comes down to getting your concept out there. Perhaps you collaborated on a project at school or university, you attend relevant industry events, you participate in formats such as co-founder speed dating, or you are expanding your network on LinkedIn.
Make sure you share the same values
You must share values when looking for a co-founder. What should your company represent? What should the cornerstones of your company’s culture be? What matters most to you as a leader? All of these are questions that you must first answer for yourself. Only by being honest will you be able to discover the things that are non-negotiable for you. Compromising your values is never a good idea.
Maintaining an ongoing discussion regarding your values, i.e., “Diversity,” whether in academic level, age, gender, or cultural background, should be prioritized from the start.
Taking care of your culture is another core priority. You might have the best product and the perfect timing, but the people make the difference between good and great.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Make sure you complement each other
Regarding skills, we’ve found that it’s best to avoid having identical profiles and instead go for someone who complements your knowledge. Finding the appropriate balance is critical. For example, a technological specialist with a brilliant idea for a software product should look for someone with a strong business background. As a result, you avoid overlap and strengthen each other.
Complementary profiles are what enabled the creation of Yokoy. “We each have a particular area of expertise, ranging from software development to sales, marketing, and finance. As a result, it was apparent from the start who would focus on what and who would assume which job.” A clear division of talents is vital for a team of founders.
Of course, your co-founder must also be a good fit in terms of personality. Investors invest not only in ideas but also in the people who create them. As a result, choose a co-founder headed on the same path as you. Finally, it all comes down to sharing the same mindset — only then can you overcome the odds.
Make sure you share the same vision
Of course, every entrepreneur hopes to develop a profitable firm. But which path do you prefer? Do you wish to expand steadily and slowly to reduce risk? Or do you want to think large, go all in from the beginning, and expand quickly? Your vision for how you want to create your firm is critical – and you must determine whether your co-founder is on board.
Communication is key
Communication is the most important component in the quest for a co-founder. You must talk frankly and be willing to share everything. In the end, it all comes down to trust, which must be there at all times.
Make it official
Finding a co-founder is the first step, and then you can get down to the nitty-gritty of how you want to collaborate. This step is about identifying everyone’s key tasks, which should not be too difficult if you choose a complementing co-founder.
And don’t forget about equity. How would you like to divide the shares? You should document everything from the beginning. Because when money is involved, disagreements may emerge and turn ugly.
There is no need to rush; take your time.
Resources:
How to find the right co-founder by YCombinator
3 Examples of successful founder partnerships
You know we like to mix the theory with some real-world data. Check out these three real-world examples of successful founder partnerships, and what made them work:
Bill Gates and Paul Allen (Microsoft)
Paul Allen and Bill Gates were childhood friends.
In high school, they were hacking partners-in-crime and shared a passion for computers.
Why their cooperation worked: The two combined friendship and business despite the risks because of a common interest in computers and a desire to be entrepreneurs.
In the Boston region, Allen followed Gates to Harvard, where they brainstormed business ideas. With Allen’s encouragement, Gates dropped out of college and founded Microsoft. A lifelong friendship and a quirky hobby developed into a billion-dollar company.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google)
Sergey and Larry met at Stanford’s Ph.D. program in 1995 but didn’t become friends immediately.
Page and Brin disagreed throughout a campus tour for doctorate candidates led by Brin. Despite their differences, they found themselves working on the same research project. Google’s search engine was based on their study, “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine.”
Photo by Joi Ito via Flickr
Why their collaboration was effective: Larry and Sergey have the same background in technology; they fell in love with computers at a young age and were raised by professors. Data mining bonded them, and they grew to have similar goals for their company.
Brin and Page decided to bring Eric Schmidt on board and foster a relaxed atmosphere at Googleplex. Sergey and Larry may have been born on opposite sides of the world (Brin from Russia and Page from Michigan), but they’re both cut from the same cloth.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Apple)
The two Steves became buddies during a summer job in 1970. Steve Jobs recognized that there was a market for the computer Woz was building.
According to Woz in a 2006 interview with the Seattle Times, “I just did what I was good at, and the thing I was good at turned out to be the thing that was going to alter the world.”
Unlike Woz, Steve was far more forward-looking. He said he could sell Woz’s designs when he made them good. And that is what they did. He was thinking about how to start a business, and perhaps he was thinking, “How can we change the world?”
Why their collaboration works: Woz admits that he had never considered selling his original computer model because he is a master of analytics. And that was it for Jobs.
Jobs’ financial acumen and Woz’s technical abilities made the two ideal business partners. Time, fame, and riches didn’t shake this relationship. Woz says the two remained close. He stated that they would “chat every now and then, but they have never had a real disagreement.”
Resources:
The top 5 co-founding partnerships and their stories by CEO Today Magazine
Tool of the Week
Start-up School is a 10-week online course designed to assist entrepreneurs with starting a business. The course is packed with video and podcast content covering topics like analyzing company ideas, product design, and raising capital.
Other options besides online courses include the Founder Forum and weekly group calls. You can also track your progress in the Startup Journal, and there are a number of deals to take advantage of.
By completing the course and applying to YC, you will be eligible to receive $15,000 in funding.
YC’s Startup School aims to increase the number of applications they receive. Approximately 6,000 startups applied to the YC winter cohort out of the over 30,000 in the program this year.
Sign up screen for Startup School’s co-founder matching
How does it work?
When you join, you will be asked to create your company profile. You should include your name, URL, summary, and why you selected this project. Also, mention how far along you are with your plan.
By creating your profile, you will be able to watch the first week’s content, or you can dive into the forums to meet other founders or find a co-founder.
In the program, you’ll participate in weekly ‘sprints.’ Each week, you’ll write a brief update on your progress and decide whether or not to join the group call. Group calls always take place on Thursdays. Videos are released every week that are loosely based on your level.