By Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, CEO and co-founder of AOA Dx.
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Finding the right co-founders is far from easy but it’s an essential part to lead your company on the path to success. Entering a business relationship, especially as co-founders, is often compared to getting married. You spend so much time with your co-founders day in and day out. As the CEO and co-founder of a startup, my top priority was ensuring my team not only shared a passion but also deeply trusted one another.
Lucky for me, I have spent the last 10 years working with my co-founders in various startups, and our chemistry as a team has proven strong throughout the last decade. Below are three things I believe every CEO should consider when finding the right co-founders for their startup.
1. Trust
If you can’t trust your co-founders, you can’t succeed. Both earning and developing a trusting relationship with your team is something that takes time to fully establish. I have been fortunate to work with my co-founders for many years, which has given us a chance to develop a great level of trust. Trust doesn’t just come down to honesty, it goes far beyond that.
You need to trust your team to effectively communicate to help your team make the best-informed decisions for your business and beyond. Poor communication will quickly lead to an unhealthy cycle that will end in failure. My team and I have really made it a point to openly communicate on all fronts and encourage constructive debate among each other.
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We trust each other to a point where we all run our own wheelhouse without feeling the need to micromanage one another. This is imperative to having a successful team, especially in the position of a CEO. You need to have full faith in your team’s abilities and commitment for your team to thrive. Micromanaging stems from a lack of trust which often causes poor performance and dissatisfaction among the team. Your co-founders often become more than colleagues; they become your closest friends.
2. A Diverse Set Of Skills
As a startup, everyone wears multiple hats, but finding co-founders with defined skill sets that differ from one another plays an important role in delegating tasks and planning resources. My co-founders and I all have very different skills that complement one another. While it’s common to share a lot of similar traits, skills and work backgrounds, it’s vital to find everyone’s sweet spot to clearly define your roles and responsibilities within the company.
My team and I have split our skills between fundraising and business development, clinical and research and development, and operations and finance. Each one of us is directly responsible and accountable for our area of expertise while continuing to collaborate on a daily basis to ensure we are not working in silos but always toward the common goals of the business.
3. Shared Passion
It’s impossible to succeed without a team that shares a strong passion. Starting a new venture purely with the desire to make money won’t be enough to succeed. You eat, sleep and breathe your startup as a founder. A sincere passion is essential among your founding team. I have been in the startup world for many years and time and time again I have seen members of the founding team quit due to lack of interest and passion. Passion is not something you can fake nor should you.
Part of finding the right team is learning about your shared passions prior to getting involved in a startup together. My team and I didn’t start with a product idea, we had a shared passion to innovate women’s health. This passion led us to partner with a scientist working with early detection for ovarian cancer which is the focus of our company today.
One Last Thing
As a final thought, while this may not be a requirement, I do believe it is of great value to be able to develop a friendship with your co-founders. The amount of time you spend together often exceeds time spent with others in your life, and the founder journey can often be quite lonely. My co-founders Anna, Alex and I are genuinely friends. We spend 95% of our team calls talking about business, and 5% catching up personally. We celebrate AOA’s wins and our personal life accomplishments. We support each other through business challenges and personal difficulties. My team and I have grown so close that Anna was a bridesmaid at my wedding.
Building the right co-founding team can make all the difference in both how your business succeeds and how you develop as a startup founder.
