In the world of entrepreneurship, co-founders are the backbone of a successful startup. But navigating the complexities of working with co-founders can be a challenge. In this blog post, I’ll explore the advantages of having three co-founders and how to foster a successful partnership with them.
Why Three is Better than Two
“Omne trium perfectum,”
The Latin phrase translates to ‘everything that comes in threes is perfect‘
I’ve seen countless two-founder businesses fail over the years, and I believe that having three co-founders can make all the difference.
Having three co-founders also breaks the “they just don’t understand me” problem that often plagues two-founder teams. This problem can start small, but over time the build-up leads to resentment which eventually is fatal for partner relationships. When there are three co-founders, your idea needs to convince two others, which raises the barrier and forces you to refine your thinking. You’re more likely to let go of an idea if two people can’t understand or don’t see your vision. This creates a more balanced dynamic, where every founder’s voice is heard and respected.
Foundations for a Successful Partnership
To get along with your co-founders and build a successful partnership, you need to have strategies in place to address the three core reasons that disagreements arise:
Communication
You need to communicate well. Good communication is the foundation of any successful partnership. When you’re working with co-founders, it’s essential to be open, honest, and proactive in your communication. Make sure everyone is on the same page and understands each other’s perspective. In my experience, timeliness is key here. The shorter the timeframe between syncing the less the opportunity to create large alignment issues. therefore I would recommend an open chat channel where partners constantly sync on matters where an FYI is important.
Then there should be a monthly board meeting, where partners come together to review performance and discuss. Additionally, it is important to sync on the corporate strategy every quarter, with a longer 2-day sync at least twice a year.
Values Misalignment
Having shared values and principles is crucial for a strong co-founder relationship. When you and your partners have similar values, you’re more likely to trust each other and make decisions that align with your collective goals. So this is very important to filter for when deciding whether to go into a venture with someone. This isn’t to say you need to have completely overlapping value systems, but in my experience and opinion the higher the overlap the better the overall outcome. It is better to look for diversity in other areas, such as capabilities, personalities, strengths and weaknesses.
Liking Each Other
Finally, it’s essential to enjoy the company of your co-founders. When you like and respect each other, you’ll be more likely to work through conflicts and challenges together. In this regard, I recommend that you try and make some of your work sessions fun. In my most recent organisation, two of the founders were keen anglers, and we often did our full-day strategy syncs on the fishing boat. One of my co-founders really enjoyed his wine, so he would often find himself at the wine bar behind the office for his afternoon meetings. We would often rib him about this, but would also take the opportunity to join him down there late in the afternoon after a busy day. We all enjoyed fine food, so we would often organise director syncs, or key employee anniversary lunches over a very nice meal at a recently opened fine dining eatery.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to take the time out to do some fun stuff together and share each other’s passions. This ensures that your connection remains at the human level and you can resist the drift towards a purely business relationship, which is not a place that is conducive to trust and collaboration.
The Founder Veto: A Safety Net for Disagreements
In any founder relationship, it’s essential to have a system in place to handle disagreements. One such mechanism that ensures that resentment doesn’t creep into the relationship is the founder’s veto, where each founder has the power to halt a project or initiative if they disagree with it.
Having a founder veto in place can be particularly useful when you have three co-founders, as it provides an additional layer of protection and ensures that everyone is aligned before moving forward.
It may be essential to establish clear guidelines for when and how the veto can be used, and to ensure that it’s not abused or used frivolously. However, when used appropriately, the founder veto can be a powerful tool for maintaining harmony and collaboration. By having a mechanism in place to handle disagreements, you can avoid most arguments and resentment and ensure that everyone stays on the same page, even when faced with challenging decisions.
Additional Keys to Success
In addition to these three keys, there are a few other factors that contribute to a successful co-founder relationship:
Trust
Trust is the glue that holds a founder team together. Without trust, it’s impossible to have a successful partnership. You need to be open and vulnerable with each other and trust that your partners have your best interests in mind. I cannot stress this point highly enough. I cannot begin to imagine how you could lead and run a successful venture in the absence of trust with your partners. I just don’t think it is possible.
Shared Vision
A shared vision is the guiding force behind any successful startup. When you and your co-founders have a clear, shared vision, you’ll be able to make decisions that align with your collective goals. This is not a simple task, and you may need to bring in external facilitation to help you articulate deep held beliefs and aims. It is very important to work on this together as the business moves from startup phase, and the team grows. Having a single clear, unifying vision and mission is imperative to ensure you attract the right people to your startup and that everyone is aligned to a common goal.
Diverse Skill Sets
A team with diverse skill sets is a powerful one. When you and your co-founders bring different strengths to the table, you’re better equipped to tackle a wide range of challenges. Celebrate each other’s unique skills and find ways to leverage them for the success of the business. In the early phases of a startup, you will be doing everything, and therefore having diverse interests and skill sets will allow you to spread out across the operations and do all the things that need to be done to keep the business moving forward. I would also recommend that you be flexible around this. In my experience it can be good to swap functions around in the early phases as you find areas you are naturally drawn to and good at. In my experience I was very lucky that my founders and me naturally spread out along the people, client and operations domains, and worked very effectively together as an executive.
Personal Growth
Being a founder is a personal journey as much as it is a professional one. You’ll need to continually grow and develop as a person to be successful. Encourage yourself and your co-founders to invest in personal growth, whether it’s through training, education, or self-reflection. Doing this together is a great way to share experiences, and development together, and also ensures that you have a common frame of reference when utilising new techniques and approaches within the business.
In the lead into our yearly strategy sessions, we would often read a business book together. Something from an esteemed business leader, or a book describing an exciting new approach to strategy, culture, leadership and management. One that was relevant to the business context at that time. We would use the book as a frame of reference, often deploying its core insights to shape our strategy sessions and as a lens to look at our business in a different light. This kept us all learning and kept our sessions fresh.
The Role of Outside Help
It’s okay to seek outside help when you need it. Whether it’s a business coach, a mentor, or a therapist, having outside expertise can help you navigate the challenges of being a founder. At various stages during the growht of our company we brought in outside talent to fill in our skills gaps.
We were lucky enough to bring some extremely talented advisors in the early phases of the companies development whom we added to the board as advisors. Each advisor stayed with us for extended periods, and brought capability and experience in areas we felt we needed development. At various times we worked on Finance, Sales & Marketing, Strategy, Leadership Development.
Conclusion
Working with co-founders can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience, but it requires a lot of work and dedication. By recognising the importance of the power of three and implementing strategies outlined in this blog you can set yourself up for success, you’ll be well on your way to building a successful startup with your co-founders.
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