Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#1

Post by jmalter » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 3:05 PM UTC

What are the topics you and your cofounder should cover before you take the leap? Here is the complete and Master list.

Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List
founderdating.com

Re: Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#2

Post by jjacobson » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 3:19 PM UTC

The section on "Personal Priorities and Risks" is very important. Deciding when to go full time and how much each cofounder is willing to put on the line is something everyone needs to think about going into a partnership.

Re: Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#3

Post by aalter » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 3:30 PM UTC

Really helpful to have this concise document...what a great list of things to consider about a partnership. So many of these are easily overlooked.

Re: Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#4

Post by esharef » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 3:56 PM UTC

I think these questions are awesome. As someone who lost one co-founder early on (there were three of us and one person quit right after YC), I wish we'd talked about some of this stuff more.

Having said that, I actually think in reality this conversation is very difficult to have.

If you've never started a start-up before you just don't know what to expect so some of these questions don't make sense. I would have WANTED to answer these honestly, but when I started HireArt I really had no clue whether I'd want to raise outside money (let's just get started was my motto) or which attributes we'd en up clashing on.

I think this makes more sense if you've started a company before and can anticipate the feelings and issues that will arise (but in that case you probably already know which questions to ask and don't need a guide).

Overall I guess I think it's really important to talk and to talk a lot. However, don't estimate how much there is that you just don't know about yourself until you're doing the start-up.

Re: Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#5

Post by smirksirlot » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 3:58 PM UTC

esharef wrote: post #4

I think these questions are awesome. As someone who lost one co-founder early on (there were three of us and one person quit right after YC), I wish we'd talked about some of this stuff more. Having said that, I actually think in reality this conversation is very difficult to have. If you've never started a start-up before you just don't know what to expect so some of these questions don't make sense. I would have WA…

I agree that this is a super hard conversation to have. BUT, if you're working with the right people, I think they'll understand that a lot of these questions are "must-have" conversations. Might not get to all of them, but even some will be super helpful to at least orient the ship and crew in the same direction.

Re: Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#6

Post by jmalter » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 4:05 PM UTC

smirksirlot wrote: post #5

esharef wrote: post #4

I think these questions are awesome. As someone who lost one co-founder early on (there were three of us and one person quit right after YC), I wish we'd talked about some of this stuff more. Having said that, I actually think in reality this conversation is very difficult to have. If you've never started a start-up before you just don't know what to expect so some of these questions don't make sense. I would have WA…

I agree that this is a super hard conversation to have. BUT, if you're working with the right people, I think they'll understand that a lot of these questions are "must-have" conversations. Might not get to all of them, but even some will be super helpful to at least orient the ship and crew in the same direction.

agree with both of you - not always easiest conversations, but they are important questions. As I say in the post, it's ideal to try to have a more natural conversation - not just go down the list. But sometimes you just have to ask tough questions - it's more awkward/painful to "break-up" down the road.

Re: Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#7

Post by alimoeeny » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 4:45 PM UTC

website is not accessible for me, anyone cares to paste the questions here?

Re: Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List

#8

Post by whelps » Mon, Dec 03, 2012, 5:06 PM UTC

> What are some of the products you love and why? Pro tip: this will help you get a sense for they appreciate and even aspire to – design, product, tech, biz strategy, etc.

This question is one I wished I asked my former co-founder. I see this as one of those "tell me what happens technically when you visit a website through a browser" type tech questions where it is simple, but allows you to gain deep insight into someone's experience, preferences and overall knowledge. I am long time software developer, but my co-founder was more sales-oriented. Our differing views on how to create our product eventually became a huge issue.