It has been a while since I last read Paul Graham’s essays on startups. Paul is a programmer, venture capitalist and essayist – he also started the Y-Combinator to provide seed fundings to startups, particularly started by younger, more technically-oriented founders. If you’ve never read one of his (absolutely amazing) essays, I strongly encourage you to do so! Paul’s essays have been a great source of inspiration to our work with PocketSmith and The Distiller. Going through ‘How to Start A Startup‘ and ‘The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups‘ reminded me how important it is to pick the right co-founders.
With PocketSmith, we are almost 18 months down the track and I sometimes take my two co-founders for granted. I have recently witnessed startups going through incredibly difficult times because they didn’t get the right ‘balance’ or ‘fit’ from the beginning – I am not sure how they are going to end up but there are lots of time and energy wasted where founders should focus on making their businesses successful.
The question then is how to get the right ‘fit’? Obviously, there is no ’secret formula’ but there are Key Success Factors I’d like to share with you:
- In a technology startup, the founders should include technical people. While it sounds obvious, I have seen many cases in which it wasn’t the case. You need hackers who get their hand dirty and LOVE building cool stuff. Out of three co-founders, at least 2 of them need to be coders/hackers/designers – confrontation helps ideas get hashed out better!
- Ideally, your team needs synergistic skills. Don’t partner with people who likes to do what you are good at! In other words, find people who are good at what you suck at. All in one, your team should be able to understand technology, marketing, sales, finances, operations, etc… Also, you and your co-founders need to be adaptable – you are going to deal with limited resources so you need people that can embrace these limitations instead of complain about them.
- Include people from different cultures. We live in a globalised world – people study overseas, learn multiple languages and adapt their behaviors to different cultures. Differences lead to creative solutions! Moreover, chances are that you will be selling your product/service in various countries around the world. A good understanding of cultures/languages is required to be truly international – having that understanding from the start is a key asset for the future of your company.
- In his ‘Hierarchy of Success‘, Seth Godin ranks ‘Execution’ as the less important factor to be successful. Instead, he praises ‘Attitude‘ as being a key factor of success – when looking for co-founders, pay attention to their attitudes. How do they deal with failure? When will they quit? How do they treat competitors? These questions have to be raised.
- With regards to attitude, trust should be the most important criteria for choosing a co-founder. You are going to be busy dealing with your workload so you cannot afford to watch over each other with every move. In short, you need to be able to trust that the person has the right capabilities and the right motivation (Honesty plays a big part in Trust). Also, remember that your co-founders bring you more than just their competences and capabilities – they give you moral support. You should trust them to be with you when things go wrong (and they will!).
- Last but not least, pick people who are passionate about the space you’re in. Jason, James and I have great passion for building a successful global SaaS company. We are not going to give up until we’ve achieved this objective!
- *BONUS*: Don’t forget to team up with people you can have FUN with!
Finally, I’d like to quote Eric Goh who said ‘Found your company with people you really trust, respect, and admire’ (I’m lucky to have ‘brothers I really trust, respect, and admire!). I’d also like to thank the good guys at LoopSolutions and Litmos for featuring truly inspirational teams 
Sources:
‘How to Start a Startup‘ by Paul Graham
‘The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups‘ by Paul Graham
‘What’s The Optimal Number Of Co-Founders For A Startup? 2.09!‘ by Dharmesh Shah
‘Keep Your Startup Co-Founder Closer‘ by Ryan Roberts
‘Important Questions Startup Co-Founders Should Ask Each Other‘ on OnStartup.com
‘How to start a technology company – Startup advice, Part 1 “Choosing co-founders” by Eric Goh
You kind of have… 
