Why a co founder is important - Chip Werner - CoFounderLab

1. Introduction

2. Introduction
The Power of companies
founded by teams
Researchers looked at almost 2,000 companies and
categorized the best performing ones as “hyper-growth”.
A staggering 94% of the hyper-growth companies were
founded by teams, whereas only 6% were founded by solo
entrepreneurs.

3. Benefits of Co-Founders
There is strength in a foundation when it is formed by a team
• Support
– The journey is tough - having a Co-Founder makes
it more manageable
• Complementary Skills
– A Co-Founder can complement the partnership with
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities you may lack

4. What to expect
• Investor sentiment
– Start-ups with two or more Co-Founders have a greater
chance of success.
• Diversity
– A Co-Founder that adds diversity to your team can help your
product or service reach a wider consumer base.
• Speed to market
– A Co-Founder can share some of the burden. There is always
too much to do, divide up the tasks amongst multiple people.

5. The Co-Founder relationship
Around 65 percent of the failures of high-potential
startups are due to “people problems”—the
interpersonal tensions within the team.
- Founders Dilemmas
– Relationship problems
– Role and decision-making problems
– Reward problems (e.g., tensions over equity splits).

6. Characteristics
• Balance
– Pick you up when you are down; Push you when you are
stagnating
• Trustworthy
– Be a sounding board
– Be honest with you
• Flexibility
– Although the idea may change, ideally you want the
partnership to remain the same.

7. Finding a Co-Founder
• Traditional Method
– Friends & Family - A relatively small personal network
• Risks: friends or relatives are the least stable of all types of
founding teams. Within a founding team, each additional
social relationship increases the likelihood of a cofounder
leaving the team by almost 30%.
• Additional Methods
– Networking events
– Internet

8. Resources
Networking Events
Meetup is the world’s largest network of
local groups. They occur in 45,000 cities
with 11.1 million members and there are
many entrepreneur groups in each city.
Internet
Online platforms such as CoFoundersLab
and Founder match enable entrepreneurs
to discover and connect with Co-Founders
based on qualifications and compatibility.

9. Summary Conclusion
• A Co-Founder can help you carry some of the weight during the early
stages of your Start-Up, and more importantly balance out some of the
skills you lack.
• Two methods to expand your network and expedite the founder
matching process are to leverage the internet and attend networking
events.
• Know yourself and choose a Co-Founder that is the right fit. Your Co-
Founder may be the second most important relationship of your life

10. Questions
www.cofounderslab.com
Washington D.C.
(202) 670-1085
cwerner@cofounderslab.com
jjensen@cofounderslab.com