Choose your co-founder wisely

One of the most amazing lessons I learned with our first startup CareerMidEast.com (acquired by Wussuf.net) is the importance of choosing the right partner/co-founder.

Choosing your co-founder(s) is one of the most important decisions you will make for your startup. It's like marriage, except you actually tend to spend more time with your co-founder than your spouse, ask my wife:). You will be together for many years experiencing and living good and bad times having to make tough decisions. I have found that you only get to know if you have made the right decisions when times are tough. I know that this isn't something you can predict, but as you go along your journey you learn to identify the signals early.

Personally, I prefer to work with partners, never liked the work solo approach. This is especially relevant if you are in the tech startup space and seeking VC money. For a lot of VCs single founder is a red flag. Here is a bit about our experience.

We all went to the same university, this made it easier for us to have a certain level of similarities which made it easier for us to communicate daily. We also came from completely different academic/skill set backgrounds. Integrated Marketing Communication, Economics, and Computer Science this translated into our functional roles covering, Sales & Marketing (CMO), Operations & Finance (COO), and Development &Programming (CTO).

We complemented each other, we trusted each other's judgment in our separate domains although we didn't have much experience (we were fresh out of university), we each knew more about our domains than the other two. Which brings me to another great advantage we had although we didn't mean it, the power of three. it proved critical when we were confronted with taking major strategic decisions in our business. Major decisions were taken two against one if we didn't agree unanimously.
Note we were all co CEO hence the reason for the decision making (which isn't typical, but worked well for us)

Having three co-founders also allowed us to stretch ourselves further, especially in a startup dynamic where you are filling multiple roles at the same time. We were able to execute more tasks in a shorter time, and it allowed us to better manage our team when our headcount reached 40+.

A general tip if you are managing a team, is to always engage and listen to their opinion before taking any major strategic decisions. Don't underestimate the power of the collective and having your team onboard with decisions that are being made, especially that they will be the ones executing. Your team needs to own your product just as much as you do, they are taking a risk being in a startup setup just like you.

Below are 5 key considerations to get you started:

1. Choose co-founders who share your same set of principles and ethics
2. Choose co-founders you can trust…BLINDLY
3. Choose co-founders that complement your skill set not match it
4. Choose co-founders that share the same passion as you do for your startup
5. Choose co-founders that check their ego at the door

What has been your experience in working solo or with co-founders?
What other key considerations would you add to the list?