Thread by @dunkhippo33

Received a number of requests for this one -- a Tuesday tweet thread about co-founders.

Do you need one? What should you look for? Can you bring in a co-founder later?

Read on >>

1) Let's get some myths out of the way. A lot of VCs don't like to invest in companies w solo founders.

(Not all - @HustleFundVC we invest in a lot of solo founders!)

But the truth is you are not more likely to succeed with or without a co-founder.

techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-…

2) But there may be MANY reasons you may want a co-founder. You can:

-Go faster
-Share the weight of company building
-Provide morale for each other

Building a company is hard, and having a great co-founder can help w/ your psychology

3) The flip side is that having a "wrong" co-founder can make your situation WAY WORSE. A top reason I've seen for companies failing is co-founder drama. Ppl who:

-don't along
-don't have good communication skills
-have too many overlapping skills
-want to do the same things

4) So if you don't have someone who:

-has complementary skills relevant to your co
-has strong communication skills w/ you
-can take feedback well
-will provide moral support

I wouldn't bring anyone as a co-founder; you're better off being a solo founder

5) You can always hire ppl and call them founding team members, but a co-founder, in my mind, is someone who has very similar equity at stake to you and is thus incentivized for this company to really do well.

6) If you've never worked together before, it can be hard to know if someone would be a good co-founder. The best way to test this out is to start working together before both committing fully to being co-founders on the company.

7) If there are any red flags at all, don't force it! If there are red flags in the first few months of working together, then there will be red flags all the way through.

Relationships only get more strained over time -- not less.

8) And to that pt, the sad thing is that most co-founding teams I know actually end up in a rift. In fact, I don't know that many who don't end up in a rift!

Whether or not you are successful, there's usually a co-founder rift.

9) In successful companies, this is usually solved by giving the co-founders more space and as more ppl enter management, then they don't have to work with each other as much. Success and product/market fit helps with this.

10) In other cases (and even in successful ones), you end up often seeing one co-founder leaving after a while and the other one running the business. Often this is because there's a co-founder rift, and this is the best move for the company.

11) So if you are thinking about starting a co w a friend, you should think long & hard about what would happen if you could no longer be friends anymore.

I know so many ppl who were co-founders w their friends and their friendships were not the same post-company.

12) Often this is why the sweet spot for a co-founder is to start a business w/ someone who is a friend you've known for a long time but is not necessarily your BESTIE.

This helps give you space in your relationship when you're not working as well.

13) Lastly, I think it's easier to have a co-founder when you're a second time founder. You know what happens.

Everyone's older, more seasoned and can take issues less personally. Seasoned entrepreneurs also generally communicate a lot better than in the first company.

14) In conclusion - the cynic in me says that you will probably have a co-founder falling out -- likely on your first company.

That being said, a co-founder who is the right person, can be an incredible source of moral support.