How to find the right co-founder for your idea
It's easy to find the right cheese for your wine, or the right tie for your shirt, but finding the right co-founder for your startup idea can be rather tricky. Here are five things to look for when scouting for a co-founder.
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Look for ethics
The very first thing to look for in a co-founder is their views on matters of ethics. If their views match yours, it's a good sign.
Look for your opposame
Your idea calls for a range of skillsets to bring it alive. It's not easy for one person to have them all. Say, if you're a tech person, you may not be all that savvy with marketing or research. The first thing to look for in a co-founder probable is the skill that's missing in you, that's critical for your business. Remember, it's not your opposite but your opposame. You don't want someone to work against you. You need someone with a different set of skills to work with you towards the same goal.
Look for temperament
What are your tastes in people? Do you like them calm and composed? Or do you prefer them a tad bit nutty? Remember, the road ahead to success is going to be long and, sometimes even treacherous. You need a co-founder who not only has work-related knowledge and skills, but also the maturity and the right temperament to persevere along with you.
Look for their capacity for risks
A co-founder is someone just like you. The only difference is, they didn't come up with the idea and you did. They bring the same amount of passion through their time and efforts. They are an equal. So, if things don't go right, will the impact be equal, too? If not, if you have a larger capacity for risks and if they don't, you're not with the right co-founder. Look for a co-founder who has planned for future ups and downs as much as you have.
Look for someone you've worked with before
Nothing beats personal experience. Know of someone you've worked with in the past, who's got what it takes to get your idea going? Then they should be on the top of the list of your co-founder probables.
The world, today, is full of people who're simultaneously good and bad. Everything is right and wrong at once. In this scenario, matching two rights is rather low on probability. You may not find the right match when it comes to issues on ethic, or skills, or financial security. However, in this age of confusion, the easy thing to match is one's desperate desire to be a success. So, if you find your deep love to make it really big also in the person, go for it. That's the co-founder you need.
