Founding teams should clarify these 5 topics at an early stage
A founder recently came to me to talk about a topic that has been on her mind for a long time. She had a business idea that she could not implement on her own and was therefore looking for co-founders. But how do you recognize suitable partners and how can co-founders be found?
Founders know: One of the decisive factors for the success of a company is the team, i.e. the group of people who come together to pursue a business idea. But this team faces many risks and challenges.
The strength of the team therefore decides whether a young company will grow and become successful or whether it will go under. So how do you recognize co-founders who “put the horsepower on the road” with one another, who together can brave the entrepreneurial storms?
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Find co-founders: Even a different founding team can be successful
Perhaps an important truth first: There is no one perfect founding team or one founding character that automatically leads to success. Rather, it is important to commit different personalities within a team to common guidelines in such a way that everyone wants to go a common path.
On the one hand, this requires a lot of honesty and a lot of communication. However, especially at the beginning, it requires one or more discussions about a few essential factors that will play a role in the joint path as a founding team.
These factors should be discussed within the team as soon as possible to see if all team members have comparable views and so everyone has a common understanding. I consider the following five points to be particularly outstanding.
The vision is the basis of the company. It is extremely important that there is a shared vision that all team members want to pursue. For this reason, it has to be clarified whether everyone in the team is in line with the vision or whether there are differences.
It is fatal if, over time and as the company develops, it later becomes clear that the founders have different ideas about the vision of the company.
Founders should ask each other what problem the company should solve and what impact the company should have. These questions will quickly show whether the founders have a common understanding in this regard.
2. Trust
Since not all founders can do all business-related activities themselves, they have to divide up the tasks and trust that they will be processed accordingly. The founders therefore have to clarify what trust means for each individual, how it is built and expressed and how trust can be damaged.
In particular, they must clarify what the founders trust each other to do independently and what can only be done together. want.
Founders should ask each other how each of them deals with trust, what it means to them and how trust is damaged. Everyone deals with trust differently, which is why it is important for them to understand how each of them understands trust.
3. Money
Money is one of the most important issues in almost every relationship. It’s important to keep in mind that money issues in a relationship are driven more by what money means to each other than by financial issues themselves.
Founders should therefore discuss the importance of money for each individual, how important it is to earn money, whether they need money in the near future and how they deal with financial pressure in particular.
Founders should ask each other what money means to them and what financial goals they have. In addition, they should discuss what fears they have about money and how their attitude towards their company will change as the financial situation changes, for better or worse.
4. Dealing with conflicts
In my experience, dealing with conflicts among founders is discussed far too little. Conflicts are inevitable. I don’t know of any founding team in which there hasn’t been a conflict at some point. The occurrence of conflicts is not the crucial problem, but how to deal with them.
Far too often, conflicts, whether obvious or hidden, lead to further problems – be it that the founding team is drifting apart, or that open arguments arise. In many cases, conflicts lead to the death of the company. Founders must therefore understand how they themselves react to conflicts and how they deal with them.
Founders should ask each other how they have dealt with conflicts in other relationships in the past, for example in the family, in a partnership or in a professional setting, and whether they were satisfied with how they were dealt with. They should then clarify how they would like to be treated in the joint company and how a conflict should be resolved.
And finally, they should not forget to talk about how, in the event of an irreconcilable difference, the paths of the founders should meet without serious damage occurring, especially on a personal level.
5. fun
Founders who want to build a company will spend a lot of time together. It is therefore important that they enjoy this time together and that it does not become a torment. Challenges can be mastered better and faster.
Founders should therefore clarify with each other how the time together can be spent well, what needs they have in this regard and also what time (off) they need, from each other but also from everyday life as a founder.
Since fun should not be neglected, founders should ask each other what this means for each individual. Also: what activities they need, what changes to everyday life and how and to what extent they need time off.
Conclusion: find co-founders for a founding team
Finding a founding team that can make a company successful is not that easy. But it is always possible. However, it requires honest communication between each other to find out if everyone is on the same page.
In addition, it requires a basic understanding and mutual agreement on the above essential factors.
My recommendation: Don’t avoid awkward conversations related to these five points, especially in the beginning. This usually pays off in the future. The earlier these points can be clarified, the better and the more resilient are the relationships in the founding team.
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