Looking for a co-founder?
Make sure his skills are complementary to your own
A
sporty entrepreneur I talked to likened building a growth venture to
white water rafting or mountain climbing - you never know what comes
next and you work as a team to get out of sticky situations!
Naturally, you would like to embark on an adventure like that with
the right teammates. In fact, most early stage investors believe that
the quality of the founding team is perhaps the single most important
factor to evaluate when assessing a growth venture. So
what features do you need to look for in potential co-founders while
building your team? Where do you search to find suitable
co-founders?
To start off, it is absolutely crucial that your co-founders' skills and expertise areas are complementary to your own. Consider Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar who co-founded ixigo, a travel search website. Aloke's brilliance in conceiving a vision and setting strategy was complemented by Rajnish's deep technological expertise. Apart from complementary skills, it is also important that your co-founders' social capital complements your own. A good example would be Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera who co-founded Eruditus, a company in the Indian executive education space. Chaitanya's networks leverage his BITS Pilani and INSEAD heritage, which in turn strongly complements Ashwin's networks that draw on his Chartered Accountancy and Harvard Business School background.
While complementary skills and social capital matter, it is good to remind ourselves that the entrepreneurial journey is fraught with uncertainty. When times are tough and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, the founding teams that persist and press on regardless are the ones with shared values. So it is critical that your co-founders are as passionate as you are about the opportunity or dream that you are pursuing; that your co-founders share with you the same convictions about what your venture stands for and how you build it. Consider for example Madan Padaki, Rajesh Bhat and Sunil Savara who are building Head Held High, a social venture.
Despite their vastly different educational & occupational backgrounds, as well as diversity in age and life stage, the three cofounders of Head Held High have a shared passion for eradicating rural poverty by equipping rural youth with the skills to become good employees or good employers. Shared values make it much more likely that the founding team builds chemistry and trust; these elusive qualities are essential so the team can handle the pressure cooker environment of a start-up. You have to ask yourself: Can I survive being in the same room together with this person for 72 hours at a stretch to handle a crisis, without biting his or her head off? Because if there is one thing we know for sure about building a growth venture, a crisis that will require long hours at work may be lurking around the corner, just when you least expect it.
Now that we know what to look for in a cofounder, how do we search for one? There are two systematic ways of findings co-founders. The first one is to leverage the power of your network. For example, Chaitanya and Ashwin were introduced to each other by a mutual friend, who was aware of the interests and skills of both. After a couple of meetings, both realised that they had sufficient complementary strengths and shared values to embark on their entrepreneurial adventure together. So, examine your personal network and identify those contacts that operate in a social world that is different from your own - folks whose industry, functional area, type of organisation, location, rank or age is different from your own; these contacts are more likely to be good sources of information about the potential co-founder that you are looking for.
To start off, it is absolutely crucial that your co-founders' skills and expertise areas are complementary to your own. Consider Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar who co-founded ixigo, a travel search website. Aloke's brilliance in conceiving a vision and setting strategy was complemented by Rajnish's deep technological expertise. Apart from complementary skills, it is also important that your co-founders' social capital complements your own. A good example would be Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera who co-founded Eruditus, a company in the Indian executive education space. Chaitanya's networks leverage his BITS Pilani and INSEAD heritage, which in turn strongly complements Ashwin's networks that draw on his Chartered Accountancy and Harvard Business School background.
While complementary skills and social capital matter, it is good to remind ourselves that the entrepreneurial journey is fraught with uncertainty. When times are tough and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, the founding teams that persist and press on regardless are the ones with shared values. So it is critical that your co-founders are as passionate as you are about the opportunity or dream that you are pursuing; that your co-founders share with you the same convictions about what your venture stands for and how you build it. Consider for example Madan Padaki, Rajesh Bhat and Sunil Savara who are building Head Held High, a social venture.
Despite their vastly different educational & occupational backgrounds, as well as diversity in age and life stage, the three cofounders of Head Held High have a shared passion for eradicating rural poverty by equipping rural youth with the skills to become good employees or good employers. Shared values make it much more likely that the founding team builds chemistry and trust; these elusive qualities are essential so the team can handle the pressure cooker environment of a start-up. You have to ask yourself: Can I survive being in the same room together with this person for 72 hours at a stretch to handle a crisis, without biting his or her head off? Because if there is one thing we know for sure about building a growth venture, a crisis that will require long hours at work may be lurking around the corner, just when you least expect it.
Now that we know what to look for in a cofounder, how do we search for one? There are two systematic ways of findings co-founders. The first one is to leverage the power of your network. For example, Chaitanya and Ashwin were introduced to each other by a mutual friend, who was aware of the interests and skills of both. After a couple of meetings, both realised that they had sufficient complementary strengths and shared values to embark on their entrepreneurial adventure together. So, examine your personal network and identify those contacts that operate in a social world that is different from your own - folks whose industry, functional area, type of organisation, location, rank or age is different from your own; these contacts are more likely to be good sources of information about the potential co-founder that you are looking for.
The
second way is to leverage the power of institutions. The educational
or work organisations you went to are often an important place to
meet potential co-founders. Thus, it is no coincidence that both
Aloke and Rajnish went to the same IIT. More interestingly, Madan and
Rajesh met because of TiE - where Madan was mentoring budding
entrepreneurs and hence met Rajesh. So participating in organisations
whose mission is to promote entrepreneurship and attending events
that reflect your passions and interests is another great way to meet
others with similar shared interests. Actively search for
organisations in your city or online for communities of practice that
you want to be a part of. That is a low cost way to meet others with
a shared passion around a specific market, technology or user
community.
The third way, is to trust providence. Let me illustrate with an example from Head Held High. Years ago, Sunil finished his batata vada snack and for some strange reason started reading a story in the old newspaper in which it was wrapped. It turned out that the old newspaper story was about Rajesh and his attempt at providing rural employment by setting up a BPO in his hometown. Luckily, the reporter included Rajesh's email id in the story — and the rest, as they say, is history!
Given that it is difficult to find a co-founder who is a perfect match on every criterion, it is often better to run with a 'good enough' match and execute a founders' agreement or a shareholders' agreement to govern the principles of the relationship. So use your networks and institutional affiliations to search for your co-founder. But also keep your antennae tuned to clues around you —make sure to stop and read the newspaper in which your batata vada is wrapped; you could find your lasting co-founder relationship there, just like Sunil did years ago!
By Balagopal Vissa Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Chair, Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise Area, INSEAD
The third way, is to trust providence. Let me illustrate with an example from Head Held High. Years ago, Sunil finished his batata vada snack and for some strange reason started reading a story in the old newspaper in which it was wrapped. It turned out that the old newspaper story was about Rajesh and his attempt at providing rural employment by setting up a BPO in his hometown. Luckily, the reporter included Rajesh's email id in the story — and the rest, as they say, is history!
Given that it is difficult to find a co-founder who is a perfect match on every criterion, it is often better to run with a 'good enough' match and execute a founders' agreement or a shareholders' agreement to govern the principles of the relationship. So use your networks and institutional affiliations to search for your co-founder. But also keep your antennae tuned to clues around you —make sure to stop and read the newspaper in which your batata vada is wrapped; you could find your lasting co-founder relationship there, just like Sunil did years ago!
By Balagopal Vissa Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Chair, Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise Area, INSEAD
CDET
12
Dec, 2014
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