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Cofounders either pull you forward or drag you back. I've had only one co-founder pull me forward, the rest were mostly drag. YC used to look for "animals" in

by muzani 5y ago

Cofounders either pull you forward or drag you back. I've had only one co-founder pull me forward, the rest were mostly drag. YC used to look for "animals" in their application. You're tapping into their primal side. It's like sports, where you just through pass the ball in front of you and your teammate can anticipate it. It's like a band where you play a beat on the drums and the guitarist just puts a riff on it. The cons is that there's overhead. There's creative disagreement and communication. There's a lot of blind trust needed to speed things up.

nowherebeen 5y ago
> Cofounders either pull you forward or drag you back This is so true. Too many founders think having more people will automatically pull them forward simply based on the sheer number of founders. So many of them find out otherwise.
cl42 5y ago
This is interesting -- could you clarify what made cofounders drag you back? And knowing what you know now, how would you spot and avoid such people in the future?
- ngokevin 5y ago
  Potentially, if they aren't performing, it's a drag. For me, not really about avoiding such people, but whoever you choose should blow your mind and you should have utmost respect for.
- muzani 5y ago
  The band analogy applies, or say a director/actor relationship. You shouldn't be telling them what to play, it's mutual collaboration. If they're designers, they look at what the thing is supposed to do, what it's not doing right, and find a way to communicate that to the user. If they're business, they continually understand the product and figure a plan to sell it. Avoid the ones who are dragging their feet. There's many variations of this. Some are good at acting excited. Some bombard you with meetings. Some do what's expected, then stop, or worse, they find excuses why it's impossible. A discussion with them energizes you, and they're energized by you. It's like nuclear energy, there's a chain reaction between you. You can trust them to handle whatever needs handling.
- smackeyacky 5y ago
  There are people out there who love the idea of a big pay day in a startup, inflate their expertise, lie, gaslight you about it, waste your runway and are generally toxic manipulators who will ruin everything you are trying to do because they are useless individuals with no shame. Cofounder? Never again. Build it and get employees instead.

by muzani 5y ago

nowherebeen 5y ago

> Cofounders either pull you forward or drag you back This is so true. Too many founders think having more people will automatically pull them forward simply based on the sheer number of founders. So many of them find out otherwise.

cl42 5y ago

This is interesting -- could you clarify what made cofounders drag you back? And knowing what you know now, how would you spot and avoid such people in the future?

ngokevin 5y ago
Potentially, if they aren't performing, it's a drag. For me, not really about avoiding such people, but whoever you choose should blow your mind and you should have utmost respect for.
muzani 5y ago
The band analogy applies, or say a director/actor relationship. You shouldn't be telling them what to play, it's mutual collaboration. If they're designers, they look at what the thing is supposed to do, what it's not doing right, and find a way to communicate that to the user. If they're business, they continually understand the product and figure a plan to sell it. Avoid the ones who are dragging their feet. There's many variations of this. Some are good at acting excited. Some bombard you with meetings. Some do what's expected, then stop, or worse, they find excuses why it's impossible. A discussion with them energizes you, and they're energized by you. It's like nuclear energy, there's a chain reaction between you. You can trust them to handle whatever needs handling.
smackeyacky 5y ago
There are people out there who love the idea of a big pay day in a startup, inflate their expertise, lie, gaslight you about it, waste your runway and are generally toxic manipulators who will ruin everything you are trying to do because they are useless individuals with no shame. Cofounder? Never again. Build it and get employees instead.