Re:Lessons I Learned from Co-Founding a Tech Startup
by kevinmobrien on Sunday April 26, 2015 @08:13AM
(#9441492)
Agreed on this. My CTO and co-founder is a friend from highschool (~18 years ago, at this point); we've weathered being teenagers together, and stayed closed through the trials of young adulthood, kids, marriages, and mortgages.
It doesn't make starting a company from scratch easier, but it does mean that (a) there are few "hard conversations" that can compare to the ones we've already had at some point, (b) trust is implicit, and (c) we can communicate very efficiently and effectively.
If founding is like marriage, then marry your best friend.
The lesson is simple. It is that you know nothing, and nobody else does either.
On the note of cofounders... I can't understand why more people don't end up in business with childhood friends. Met my cofounder aged 12. Started our first business at 13. Then 14, 15, 16... Then 22 - and that one stuck - 31 now, both in years and headcount. Trust isn't something we even think about. It just is.