Lesson 8: Finding a Technical Co-Founder

Finding a Technical Co-Founder

So, you need a technical co-founder? We all wish there was one standardized test or white board problem to be solved that would show you, in no uncertain terms, who is the best person to be your technical co-founder. But there isn’t.

Finding one involves exploration, trial, and error, asking the right questions, and looking for the types of attributes and qualities that would be good for you.

The trick to finding a technical co-founder is that you will serve yourself best by selecting someone who doesn’t just want to work on a product idea, but, instead, the person wants to be part of something bigger.

This is an aspect that will help you differentiate between two or more technical people who all seem “good” or potentially “great.”

You may be gearing up to go to a networking event with many technical professionals; your plan is to meet 25+ people, then narrow your list down to 5 and then pick the person within a few weeks. This is likely not going to turn out well. You should give yourself more time.

For example, before you leave your current job to start a company, you could work on a side project with one or more technical people and see how it goes. You can always walk away after a side project; it will be harder to walk away after you have started the company, started raising money and have made a commitment. (You likely wouldn’t treat marriage in your personal life in such a rigid, short time-bound way. Why treat finding a co-founder in such a flippant way with a self-imposed deadline?)

Not only should the person be technical enough for your liking (whether you are technical or non-technical), but think about the importance of personality fit, alignment of viewpoints of the future, and underlying motivation. These factors come into play when you are looking to partner with someone. It is not just the person’s technical skills.

It is smart to partner with someone with emotional intelligence and resilience because you both will be riding an emotional rollercoaster together. You’ll want to gauge their psychological experience.  Have they been through adversity at other companies? How did they handle it? How fast do they bounce back from setbacks or disappointments?

Here are four things to look for in a technical co-founder:

·       Ability to figure things out, no matter how technically complex… all kinds of things, like an all-around athlete who can play multiple sports.

·       Ability to get things done… fast and accurately (whether programming or hardware fixes)

·       Ability to communicate in simplified ways that translate the technical into the non-technical (not always at the top of the list for technical people, so that’s why you need to be patient to find the right person you connect with)

·       Determination… and lots of it

You may be thinking, “well, I’ll just partner with an Ivy League grad and then everything will work out great.” Not necessarily, to be honest. The person may be extremely bright and very good at standardized testing, but he or she could also be so stuck in their ways that the idea of pivoting due to market changes or ever-evolving customer expectations may be something they would despise. In that case, you’d run into trouble later, for sure.

It’s better to partner with a technical co-founder who has flexibility to do technical work or oversee technical work based on market research and user feedback – a business-minded, customer-centric, technical professional who has some level of emotional maturity, resilience, and humility. You won’t regret it.