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So, what's the remedy for people who find themselves in the situation of being the "strong personality" in the lot? After reading about people's successes here

by icey 17y ago

So, what's the remedy for people who find themselves in the situation of being the "strong personality" in the lot? After reading about people's successes here, I've taken it to heart that a team of founders is a better way to go than a single founder; but whenever I try to get a group of people together it ends up feeling like I've taken on employees instead of co-founders. By that, I mean that things only seem to get done if I personally push for them to happen. I'm not interested in having founding employees, if I'm going to go the route of having co-founders then I'd like everyone to have equal input and as equal contribution as we can manage. However, it doesn't seem to be as easy as just saying "we're all in this together as founders, let's get on with it" (I've tried this tact and it just hasn't worked). I guess the distilled question is: how do you find co-founders that are as driven as you are? And as a follow-on, how important is geographic relativity to your co-founders? Being in a non-startup hub, it makes it a little tough to find groups of people out and interested in working on startups (versus going out to find interesting jobs).

BrandonWatson 17y ago
Great questions. I think finding co-founders is about finding people who share your same passions, ideals, etc. Getting into a founder relationship is not unlike a marriage, except that you will probably be spending more time with the founder than your spouse. If finding a spouse is challenging, finding founders is more so. The upside of our current era is that finding like minded souls is made much easier, even if you aren't living in a startup hub. However, from my experience living in Houston for a while, it's hard for non-founder types to understand why you would want to start your own thing. The startup hubs have more people who embrace this possiblity of failure. I have met many an intersting potential founder at events like the bar camps, startup weekends, etc. It's not going to happen over night for sure. Working with a remote team can be challenging, but with Skype etc, it's much easier than it used to be. However, when you are slogging out the long nights, having proximity to your team matters, especially your co-founders. It's not a deal breaker, but it will help.

by icey 17y ago

BrandonWatson 17y ago

Great questions. I think finding co-founders is about finding people who share your same passions, ideals, etc. Getting into a founder relationship is not unlike a marriage, except that you will probably be spending more time with the founder than your spouse. If finding a spouse is challenging, finding founders is more so. The upside of our current era is that finding like minded souls is made much easier, even if you aren't living in a startup hub. However, from my experience living in Houston for a while, it's hard for non-founder types to understand why you would want to start your own thing. The startup hubs have more people who embrace this possiblity of failure. I have met many an intersting potential founder at events like the bar camps, startup weekends, etc. It's not going to happen over night for sure. Working with a remote team can be challenging, but with Skype etc, it's much easier than it used to be. However, when you are slogging out the long nights, having proximity to your team matters, especially your co-founders. It's not a deal breaker, but it will help.