What to Look for While Searching for a Co-Founder Business Partner- Entrepreneurship Development Ideas
Following are Some areas you need to Focus upon while Looking for a Good Co-Founder.
Article Content Highlights
Finding a perfect co-founder is a task in itself. A co-founder is the business partner to a start up business. Everything has to get started from the very beginning in a newly set up business. It is quite a challenge to find a partner with the required skill set, mindset, personality, knowledge and interest.
One who is passionate just like you and has a willingness to prove him/ herself, One who faces the challenges and struggles with the same positive approach as you and who has the same emotions towards the business as you.
Together with whom you can work towards a common goal as a team, that’s what you need in a perfect business partner. Therefore, a sound and intelligent decision on this front is to be taken.
Searching a Business Partner or Co-Founder is a Mission in itself and so should be accomplished well
12 Things to keep in Mind while Picking a Right Business Partner:
1- Skills & Competency needed:
Focus on complementary skills. Both should be supportive of each other. Look for someone whose strengths balances the other’s. The ones with qualities that you do not have.
For example; if you are good in sales, marketing, promotions, fund raising, business development, etc and not on technical front then in that case you should search for a co-founder that is good in technical areas like, engineering, product and likewise.
The combination of skills should be such that together you make a complete team.
2- Common Interest & Passion:
Alignment of goals, mission is indeed one of the most imperative part. Have shared values around what you want to achieve. Together you should be compatible and have a sense of mutual understanding with regards to the future of your company.
The company’s long and short term goals should be laid down beforehand and both should think in the same direction with the same perspective to take the business higher.
➤ How to Grow your Business Bigger with the 3P’s of Profit Maximization
3- Social Networking:
There various mediums through which you can connect and grow your network. Industry conferences, meets, business/ entrepreneur forums, local organizations, seminars, etc are some ways to meet people, young entrepreneurs, like-minded skilled people who can have competency to be your co-founder.
Also with the growth and hype of social media, you can easily search & connect to people. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter are playing great role in growing network of people as well as businesses.
4- Explore Sites To Find Business Partners:
CoFoundersLab, StartupWeekend, StartupAgents and many more to find the ideal Co-founder. Join and explore these sites as they can be of great help here. Also take active part in discussions that takes place on various blogs related to business in order to let people know about your interest.
5- Personality Match:
Working with someone you can get along well leads to a more positive outlook towards everything. Sometimes you are too much stressed when things don’t go in your favor.
When you have someone to share things with, someone you can trust, someone who makes challenges fun then that kind of a business partner is a boon. In good times and bad, both should be together and not give up.
Co-founders should not only get along well within their business concern but also outside their worklife. Find someone whose personality and mental level matches yours.
6- Meet Professors & Student Leaders In Universities:
These people possess great knowledge with regards to entrepreneurs, young talented individuals looking for people whose skills, interests, ideas matches to their’s, alumnus, staff people looking for the same as said before and so on.
Get in touch with the professors, student leaders and get to know about who all are the people with same interests as yours.
7- Avoid Cultural differences:
In a workplace people from different background, cultures, regions work together. Cultural or geographical differences should not stop you here.
Focus on skills, interest, passion and knowledge. If the person is best to be your co-founder, culture, place, region, religion, etc should not be the barriers then.
➤ Why Freshers are More Interested towards the Jobs in Startups
8- Appreciation & Respects Towards Each Other:
Someone whom you respect and who respects you as well. Mutual respect and appreciation is needed when two people work together. Communication gap hampers everything.
A good rapport between people can only be developed when the two respect and admire each others skills.
Find someone who value your opinion and what you bring to the table and same goes for you, make sure you respect your co-founder and be each others strength.
9- Flexibility:
A co-founder should be one who can think and try to manage things in alternative ways. He/ She should be able to adjust to all kinds of situations that arises in the business. Flexibility makes life easy.
Mention what all qualities you are looking for in a co-founder before you commit to one, flexibility being one of the important one though.
10- Look Into The Availability & Interest Of Associates:
If you think in your previous work assignment, there were competent people (your associates) whom you would want to work with then you can follow up with them. What can get better than this.
You must be knowing each other quite well and the level of compatibility must be high. Check if such associates of yours are available and ready to join you or if any recommendation or references they want to give.
11- Jointly Commit:
Make sure you are able to work cohesively as a team and there are no issues arising therein. If you can’t work as a team, you can’t take the business higher together.
Equal participation of both is needed to grow the business. One working hard and other not would not give good results.
12- Roles & Responsibility:
Assign roles after negotiating with each other. There cannot be two CEOs. One can only stay on top for the decision making when issues are severe and tough. Decide it between yourself by mutually agreeing.
Source link
