Effective collaboration is a cornerstone of successful ventures. Alignment among founders and co-founders on critical aspects like financial strategies, annual objectives, and core team values is essential for long-term success. In a recent post on X, Aman Goel, CEO of GreyLabs AI and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, highlighted the importance of selecting a co-founder who shares a similar vision for success.
In a viral post, Mr Goel explained this statement, “For instance, if you come from a small, middle-class family, an outcome of ₹ 5 crore might be huge for you. However, if your cofounder comes from a wealthy business family, for them, it might be peanuts. This might lead to a large difference in vision/outcome.”
Mr. Goel went on to say that misaligned financial objectives can make it difficult to make important decisions, especially when choosing clients. Consider two co-founders whose goals in terms of money are very different. A client offering ₹ 25 lakh could be viewed as a huge victory since it would help them reach their annual income target of ₹ 1 crore. The other co-founder, on the other hand, might consider the same deal insignificant, as it only represents 1% of their target of ₹ 25 crore. The company’s growth trajectory may be hampered by these conflicting decisions resulting from this difference in financial priorities.
“Whether to pursue this client or not, will become a question of how large of an outcome the founders are looking for. Differences in appetite might lead to friction in taking this decision. Friction leads to co-founder conflicts. Co-founder conflicts are the easiest way to kill a venture,” he added.
When looking for a co-founder, look for someone whose definition of success is similar to yours. For instance, if you come from a small, middle-class family, an outcome of Rs. 5 crores might be huge for you. However, if your cofounder comes from a wealthy business family, for…
— Aman Goel (@amangoeliitb) May 2, 2024
The post received more than 25,000 views on X. Commenting on the post, a user wrote, “This plays even more strongly for downside risk. Some can chase a goal for 3 years without earning any salary, some would have major lifestyle challenges in a year.”
Another user wrote, “This is good advice, Aman. I was recently privy to a falling out between cofounders exactly because of such life expectations mismatch.”
“How about your co-founder will chase only bigger clients which might achieve 5 cr in 5 clients vs 5 cr in 20 clients. 5 clients are easy to manage, easy to build for, easy to sell to,” the third user commented.
The fourth user wrote, “Makes a lot of sense. But then opposites attract – would we not want someone with a different PoV as well so that he can bring a different perspective to the table?”
“Your posts are very insightful. Never found you hesitant about sharing your pearls of wisdom with others. This will be immensely helpful for lots of budding entrepreneurs. Admire you for this & wish you a great success & future ahead. Thank you,” the fifth user commented.
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