How to choose co-founders

How to choose co-founders? Choosing co-founders in every startup is one of the key challenges at the initial stage. Before choosing, the founder must decide whether they need a co-founder at this stage, what tasks will fall on the co-founder's shoulders, and how responsibilities will be divided among the co-founders. If the founder is a very good techie but lags behind on the commercial side, or, conversely, the founder is a businessperson with a good idea but does not understand how to implement it technically, then a co-founder with the missing competence is a must-have for the startup. According to statistics, more than 50% of co-founders studied together at university, about 20% worked together, and 15% have mutual friends and acquaintances.

What do these figures mean? First, if you share a common context, you can see how each of you performs particular tasks, interacts with the people around you and behaves in different situations. Second, you understand whether you can be around this person, how well you understand and complement each other, and whether there is that notorious chemistry between you. Although co-founders often come from the same university or company, they should be people with different mindsets, because within a startup co-founders face different tasks with a single goal: developing the product, presenting it, promoting it and interacting with the service's customers, as well as interacting with investors and many other things.

The motivation of co-founders is also important. In the early days, it should not be money, since at the very beginning co-founders work on sheer enthusiasm. It should be the startup founders' drive to change the world and conquer it. If the founder has not been able to find such a person at university or at work, other tools come to the rescue: hackathons. Many young people interested in the subject take part in them. At the same time, you will have an opportunity to assess the skills of a potential team member. Second, thematic conferences. Third, thematic chats and groups in messengers.

Fourth, GitHub, if you need a technical co-founder. Fifth, Y Combinator Startup School. They have a service for finding co-founders. We also recommend actively showcasing your product on social media, for example, posting on LinkedIn.