2 ms·

Spot on. In my last startup failure I think there were two major lessons: - You can never really be sure of your co-founders personal goals or priorities until

by gfodor 9y ago

Spot on. In my last startup failure I think there were two major lessons: - You can never really be sure of your co-founders personal goals or priorities until there is a crisis situation that forces them to be surfaced. - In crisis situations, nothing else matters more than power structures, both formal and informal. (Conversely, outside of crises, power structures generally lurk beneath the surface while ths sun is shinning.) Tactical lessons would be to ensure any venture you are a part of you are hedged from finding yourself behind a single-point-of-failure in the power structure, be it a co-founder, an investor, a partner, or a client. Always have an escape hatch or at lease an assurance than in any particular crisis you will have options to influence the outcome, and not be gated by a singular entity's decisions or influence.

jeffmould 9y ago
You can never really be sure of your co-founders personal goals or priorities until there is a crisis situation that forces them to be surfaced. 100% accurate and I would say is probably the root of most founder breakups. It is easy to say you are "in it together" and your interests are aligned when everything is going well. But the minute something happens that has even the slightest potential to impact someone's personal goals or priorities, the spirit of being in it together can easily fly out the window. I believe that human nature makes this piece inevitable to some extent. People can naturally grow defensive when their goals or priorities are threatened. I think the bigger problem comes when that person hides that from the other founder(s). They continue to put up a front by saying that everything is ok, but their actions tell a different story.
cyberferret 9y ago
+100 I have had two business partnerships with a co-founder go south after a few years when personal situations changed drastically. With my first co-founder, it was when his wife was relegated to a wheelchair when an operation went wrong, and with the second, it was when her partner decided to end their long term relationship. NB: I wouldn't say that I was squeaky clean innocent either - in the first case above, I had also just gotten married about the same time, so it was the sudden change in goals and priorities for each of us that was the catalyst for the co-founder relationship to break down.

by gfodor 9y ago

jeffmould 9y ago

You can never really be sure of your co-founders personal goals or priorities until there is a crisis situation that forces them to be surfaced. 100% accurate and I would say is probably the root of most founder breakups. It is easy to say you are "in it together" and your interests are aligned when everything is going well. But the minute something happens that has even the slightest potential to impact someone's personal goals or priorities, the spirit of being in it together can easily fly out the window. I believe that human nature makes this piece inevitable to some extent. People can naturally grow defensive when their goals or priorities are threatened. I think the bigger problem comes when that person hides that from the other founder(s). They continue to put up a front by saying that everything is ok, but their actions tell a different story.

cyberferret 9y ago

+100 I have had two business partnerships with a co-founder go south after a few years when personal situations changed drastically. With my first co-founder, it was when his wife was relegated to a wheelchair when an operation went wrong, and with the second, it was when her partner decided to end their long term relationship. NB: I wouldn't say that I was squeaky clean innocent either - in the first case above, I had also just gotten married about the same time, so it was the sudden change in goals and priorities for each of us that was the catalyst for the co-founder relationship to break down.