01.2 cofounder

· spad's blog

0 How you operate #

  1. What are your strengths and superpowers (beyond functional expertise)?
    • Emphatic and direct in communication.
    • Due to being emphatic I possess people skills (especially when they are struggling and can talk them through the struggle.)
  2. What are your weaknesses? How do you try to compensate for them?
    • Jumping to conclusions too fast.
      • Listening better.
    • Overthinking.
      • Taking action.
  3. What words would your co-workers use to describe you? What would they want me to know about what it’s like to work with you?
    • I care, about them, and about the product. It's important people can perform and feel respected.
    • Most of my coworkers would say that I am a genuine open and caring person.
    • I'm also still in contact with the better performing part of my past coworkers. Meaning they became friends, or close to it.
    • Ask them :) references
  4. How do you deal with conflict? Describe a time you dealt with it well — and a time you didn’t.
    • I deal with it usually head on. Since these things start to linger and fester and in my opinion only produce more problems down the road.
    • Sometimes, emotional conflicts need a bit of settling time, and going in it head on isn't always the right approach with all people.
    • So sometimes I missread the situation and confront it to early.
  5. What’s the worst interpersonal conflict you’ve dealt with? How did you handle it?
    • The worst.. I once recorderd one of my superiors without knowing that this wasnt allowd in a meeting. The recording was for me to digest is afterwards.
    • I didn't ask for their consent ( I was 23y old) and they saw it on my screen and confronted me with it. I stayed open but things got really emotional from their side.
    • They started shouting etc. So I just tried to explain them that it was nothing personal and my reasoning for doing so.
    • It ended up to them firing me and hurting me deeply after all the energy and extra time I invested in that company.
  6. How do you cope with stress? Depression? Are there any red flags I can help watch out for?
    • I tend to overwork when I don't feel well.
    • So a good way of helping me is helping me set boundaries towards my own involvement if you see that the energy is low.
  7. How do you arrive at your convictions? What are some key mental models you use to be creative, solve problems, or make decisions?
    • I tend to listen well and feel in, try to look through the veil which people often use to mask their true meaning/intention, and penetrate that veil by asking questions/leading the conversation.
    • I use my internal compass, which is nowhere near any scientific proven methods. I do have a good value palette.
  8. Describe your work style. What techniques do you use for personal productivity?
    • I tend to reward myself with exercise, which doesn't make sense cause it's also exhausting :P.
    • I try to focus on one task at a time. There aren't really any techniques like pomodoro etc. that have really stuck.
    • I perform best when the vision is clear and people in the team are happy and on their path.
  9. How many hours/week are you willing to work? For how long? What sounds good? What sounds like hell? Do you have different expectations for different phases of the company’s lifespan? (i.e. willing to work harder in the beginning)
    • This is no fixed amount. I haven't really been good at sticking to a 8h workday. Those usually overstretch.
    • This is a pain point though, especially in a culture/work agreement that only rewards 8h a day.
    • I enjoy going hard for a period of time, compensated by a period of taking time for myself. This sounds like heaven.
    • Building something and then enjoying the fruits of the labour for a while by cranking down and taking time in nature as a priority.
    • Then coming back and going for it again.

1 Roles #

  1. What would you want your role to be before we reach product/market fit? What would you want your role to be after we reach product/market fit?

    • I'm someone who can manage the team and build the product technically.
    • Sales and networking aren't really sides I've explored. Maybe I'm good at it, maybe not. I have most success in 1on1 communication dynamics.

  2. How do you see your role changing as the company starts to scale? (Read the Review article on giving away your Legos.)

    • It would start technically and then become more managerial when we have earned our stripes. I think I'd enjoy leading more rather then building it all myself until the end of my carreer.

  3. If your role becomes unavailable entirely (e.g. the board hires a professional CEO or an experienced executive), what would you want your new role to be?

    • Well that would mean we did something successful. Meaning I wouldn't mind stepping away and focussing on what I do well.

  4. Areas of Responsibility (AoR) Exercise. Rank yourself in these areas (both as an individual contributor, and as a leader) on a scale of 1-10. Then rate your passion in each of the above areas on a scale of none to high. (e.g. “I’m an 8 in sales, but hate it so none”):
    SALES 4 MARKETING 5 PRODUCT STRATEGY 7
    DESIGN 8 ENGINEERING 8 OPERATIONS 8
    FUNDRAISING ? LEADERSHIP 9 COMPANY BUILDING ?
    RECRUITING ? LEGAL 5 SPECIFIC SKILLS 8*

    *Domain or technology-specific skills (e.g. Healthcare, Machine Learning, etc.)

2 Corporate Structure and Funding #

  1. Where should our startup be based? How do you feel about remote or distributed teams?
    • I do see the value of having a home office and inhouse team, but from my ideal standpoint I'd rather work with people that communicate well when working remotely and then meeting up once in a while where needed, than working with people who have an office mentality.
    • I'm more inclined to have a full remote team. Because that is where my own heart lies. The ability to be in the tech world and simultaneously be in nature.
    • Having a remote team also usually says something about the vision of these people and in my personal opinion real remote workers (usually they already wanted this before corona) are highly driven people with the right mindset of valueing time in nature/outside of a corporate office.
    • I am aware of the trashy part of the market right now that sells an idea of being able to work at the pool, which is ofcourse total bogus.
  2. Is there anything I should know that may affect materially affect your time or legal status as a founder? (e.g. visa, green card, criminal record)
    • No.
  3. How should founder equity be set? What’s your philosophy on the employee equity pool?
    • My visions is, 'voor wat hoort wat'. If one of the founders poors his heart and soul into the company, it's only just that this person has the bigger pool.
    • There should be an understanding about overselling though. For example the technical part is only as good as what is being sold.
    • So if we overpromise and underdeliver, this usually indicates a lack of sales skills rather then product market fit.
    • If we have to overpromise, we should re-evaluate the company and not go on an endless catching up cycle in the hope to ever crawl of that doom pit scenario.
  4. What should our approach to employee compensation be, including cash and equity?
    • As a startup, we should look for people that are motivated and interested in equity rather then huge pays.
    • Depending on how early and how much impact the % of quity should be aligned with that.
    • The bigger the startup the lower the equity, the bigger the salary.
  5. How much money should we raise? (i.e. “zero” to “as much as we can”) In the range of “bootstrapped small business” to “go big or go home”, where do you want this startup to go?
    • I'm more inclinded to raising little, and proving worth fast and early rather then faking it till we make it.
    • If our idea is well, the execution also, then it should prove to us that we are doing the right thing.
    • Raking in investments is a blessing in the short term, and a curse long term. Imo it's better to start small and fail fast.
  6. What matters most in a founder? If you were doing reference checks on a VC or potential board member, what traits would you be looking for?
    • I'd be looking for the ability to actually get stuff done. And no BMW's. Not the cars :), but no Bitching Moaning and Whining.
    • Maturity and their main focus shouldn't be money, but rather be interested in the product and journey.
  7. What does an ideal company exit look like to you? (i.e. “work on company for 1-2 years and sell for 7 figures” to “work for 10 years, reach 9 figures in revenue, and IPO”)
    • work on company for 1-2 years at first, and after a successful exit, work on a new endeavour and with bigger ambitions.
  8. How do you think about the timeframe and pace of success? Are you willing to take the longer path? How long is too long?
    • My life's choices have proven to me that I'm willing to work the long path. Yet I've also learned it's sometimes better to fail early.
    • And then rebuild with the lessons learned. There is always a fine line between holding on and letting go.
    • That's why open communication is important and expressing how each party involved feels/sees the future.
  9. What number would you sell at? How would that change if you got extra liquidity from your existing positions?
    • The number is not so important, the way we both feel about the undertaking is more important and the way of life it provides.
    • This question should be reanswered whenever the product has proven itself in the market.
  10. What do we do if we find product/market fit, yet none of the founders are excited about that product?
    • This relies on the true intentions of both parties involved. If the focus is foundership, and bussiness, then I believe the product excitement doesn't really matter too much.
    • As long as there is a belief in the product and the market fit there should be enough drive to be successful.
    • If bussiness and foundership is secondary, then we shouldn't go for something we don't believe in eventhough the journey of building a solution and bringing it to the people is exciting in itself. If there is NO belief in the product then it's better to just skip it all together. No passion for the product or for bussiness = no bussiness.
  11. Can one co-founder fire another co-founder? Can someone else fire a founder?
    • It should be possible to end the working relationship with mutual agreement only. I don't believe in letting ego lead the way. Being humble and facing challenges together is what cofoundership is about. This all comes down to selecting the person, and not the credentials one has or promising words someone utters.
    • If the power to fire someone, that is building the company with you from scratch, lies with one party it can potentially produce a toxic working dynamic and introduce dishonesty between the 2 parties.

3 Personal Motivation #

  1. Why do you want to start a company — in general, and in particular right now?
    • I've always been passionate about the self starting energy and appeal a lot to successful starting a venture.
    • I didn't intent to, which is why this is an interesting curve ball, yet secrectly I've always wanted to / dreamt about it.
  2. What is success to you? What motivates you personally?
    • The ability to use your creative power to build something other people like and enjoy using. And don't mind paying you for.
    • The creativity to make a workplace that enables people to enjoy a lifestyle otherwise not possible.
  3. What impact do you want to have? Is your startup objective “getting rich” or “changing the world”? Is control or success more important? (i.e. Are you willing to step aside if the company is more likely to have a financially successful outcome or is it important for the founders to stay in control of the company’s destiny?)
    • At first, proving to ourselves we got this, and help people along the way.
    • The getting rich part is a consequence of doing something right for a lot of other humans.
    • The getting rich means more power to create better lifestyles for others as well, not just a meaningless chase of riches which never fullfills.
  4. What makes you gritty?
    • If someone tells me I can't do it.
  5. Who do you admire most in your organization/family/friends and why?
    • The ability to look past the self.
  6. What are you most proud of in your work career or life to date?
    • My gritty mentality towards improving the work environment and way of working of my collegues.
  7. When have you taken a chance when others did not? Or when have you been willing to take an unpopular stance?
    • Oh, most of my life. :)> Unpopular is usually the more harder way, but also the one which bears the best fruits.
    • People like it easy, including myself. The golden bullet, usually involves another party to suffer.
    • So I'm more fond of failing fast and building something which can sustain itself by proving its worth.
  8. What are some of the products and companies you love, and why?
    • Mindvalley.
  9. Is it possible to build a wildly successful company without burning out or damaging other parts of your life (family, health, etc.)?
    • I midly believe in 'how one does anything is how one does everything', so if building a successful company is a burnout session, the success isn't sustainable, and neither will the companies success be.
    • So yes, building a bussiness success involves being successful in other parts of life as well.
    • Family/love, health (mental/physical), respect for each other and commitment towards greatness.

4 Commitment Fincances #

  1. Will this company be your primary activity? Do you have any other time commitments?
    • As of now, this company will be my primary activity.
  2. What is your expected time commitment right now? How do you see that changing in the next 6 months? 2 years?
    • 2/3days per week
    • This can change to 5/7 per week when the need arises.
  3. What is your personal runway? Current burn rate? Would you invest your own money (ideally retaining higher equity in return)?
    • I have 1 year of runway without any income. I could potentially invest a couple grand.
  4. What is the minimum monthly salary you need to survive? To be comfortable? To feel like you’ve “made it?”
    • The ability to live wherever, and work wherever, with people I enjoy and a product I'm passionate about.
    • And eventually be able to build a beautiful house in nature somewhere.
    • The amount earned is secondary to the real world experience of working with passion and people who vibe with you.
      • Survive 1800/month net
      • Comfort 3000/month net
      • Made it 10000/month net
  5. What should the policy of co-founders advising/consulting with other companies be?
    • Not sure.

5 Team Culture #

  1. Complete the sentence: It would make you proud to hear people describe this company’s culture as RESPECTFUL and RELAXING but INTENSE with a tad of JOY. (Values are written words, and your culture is how you actually live those written words.)
  2. What’s your philosophy on how to attract and retain great people? Tactically, how would we make this happen at our company?
    • By working with an interesting tech stack.
    • And by leading the way in how we create stuff and earn because of it.
    • Actions speak louder than words, meaning if we are great at what we do, we earn great, and can work with other great people.
    • Word of mouth.
  3. What processes or techniques would you use to get the most out of your team? For example, how would you help them become better managers or achieve their goals?
    • Let them be their best self by not to focus on over criticising the lesser aspects, and focus on strengthening their strong points.
    • Listen with intention to the team, and create a culture where honesty is core.
    • This honesty leads to better understanding of chokepoints and act on them.
  4. How much of your time do you hope to spend either working or socializing with coworkers?
    • This should be done daily but not forcefully. For example, we should talk with the people when the need arises instead of having 1on1's every 4 weeks. This leads to a feeling of being seen and values rather than a planned in fake interest.
    • If someone doesn't open up, have a random call and try to be genuinely interested instead of planning it. This gives the people a feeling of being seen and appreciated.
  5. How important is diversity & inclusion? Concretely, how would you put that into action?
    • The fact that this is a question shows me what is wrong with our culture.
    • You either are a fit in the team, or you aren't. Regardless of the background.

6 Co-Founder Relationship #

  1. Specifically, how are we going to prioritize and make time for our co-founder relationship as we get increasingly busy with company building?
    • By intentionally involving each other, whilst also being respectful with each others time.
    • We should be able to make decisions based on alignment of our values where we can be 2 hands on 1 belly.
    • By communicating whenever the need arrises.
    • By exercising together and not talking about the bussiness.
    • By encouraging honesty > tactics to fill the gaps because of misscommunication.
  2. How would we resolve personal conflict between ourselves? How about stalemates?
    • Battle it out on the tatami (jui-jitsu). Hahah that would be cool right?
    • By open communication and being vulnerable about what really is going on.
    • By talking and then deciding something we both agree on.
    • So that it isn't just hanging in the air. It should be clear what our course of action is after the conflict.
    • Stalemates should also be given a, 'we will discuss it next time' or we wont do anything about it for now.
    • If a decision has to be made, we have to communicate until we have it.
  3. In case this becomes part of our partnership’s evolution, how would you go about handling a startup divorce?
    • Again, open communication, ego at the door and trying to figure out what went wrong so that we both can learn from it.
    • We are all human after all, and trying our best.
  4. What happens in the scenario where we aren’t growing? How would we diagnose the problem? How have each of our capabilities and approach contributed to growth failures in our pasts?
    • Well growth, is a consequence of doing something other people value. If growth is the goals, it means we sold ourself to VC's.
    • Growth isn't a neccessity if you are having fun/enjoying a healthy lifestyle.
    • If the lack of growth is intruding with our way of life and desires, then we should clearly set daily/weekly targets, that potentially help us grow. And evaluate this monthly to see if we are on the right track.
  5. In every partnership, there are times when a partner might breed resentment if certain dissatisfactions don’t change over time. How would you deal with a situation like this?
    • Potentially confront the party and ask what would actually stop the resentment from growing. If the resentment is something tied to another peson in the company, the decision should be posed to end the working relationship with one of the parties.
    • Induce self reflection and personal growth. Resentment usually blooms from lack of open honest communication and lack of respect. By embodying these values everyday we breed a fertile ground for a company culture that attracts people who value this.
    • So it all starts with ourselves and the people we attract and allow in.
    • The dealing with, starts at the start.
  6. How would you think about bringing on a third (or N+1) cofounder?
    • If there is a logical need for it, why not?
  7. Wrap up question: Now we know each other’s weaknesses, passions, needs and constraints––how are we going to make each other successful? What would it take to feel truly partnered in this adventure?
    • Visor open, heart on the table. Honest and open communication.
    • A willingness to create a culture that embodies personal growth not by holding hands, but by allowing people to chose their own growth at their time.
    • If the product market fit isn't there, or a person fit isn't there. The strength to end it quickly.