Learning from My Co-founder Departure

Starting a business is a thrilling adventure. When I began my AI SaaS startup a few months ago, it was initially a solo venture. The idea was to help SaaS owners leverage LLM to handle their pre-sales process. However, just two months in, an opportunity for collaboration presented itself when a colleague from my previous startup offered to join me. He was excited about the idea and saw a bright future for it. Given the importance of having a good team for startup success, I welcomed him on board.

We initiated our partnership with a trial project, a practice inspired by Y Combinator's co-founder matching approach. The trial project was meant to help us understand how well we could work together toward achieving our goals. In the early stages, he took on various tasks, such as engaging with customers, creating mock-ups, and studying our competitors.

However, as we progressed, I needed him to venture into areas he wasn't familiar with. This included drafting a high-level business plan to outline our long-term goals and the strategies to achieve them, finding people outside our networks to test our product, and elevating the quality of his work within shorter timelines.

These new responsibilities were crucial for our company. However, the transition wasn't smooth. My co-founder found the new tasks challenging, feeling a gap in the required skills. On my side, the outcome of his efforts wasn’t meeting my expectations. This led to a conversation where we identified the core issues - there was a skillset and resource gap.

Doing some research, I stumbled upon a Quora thread that shed light on common reasons why co-founders part ways. It ranged from differences in vision to burnout or finding better opportunities elsewhere.

This experience taught me that choosing a co-founder goes beyond just having a good past experience. It's about finding someone who shares your vision, can collaborate effectively, and is exceptionally good at a crucial role your startup needs in its early stage, most likely engineering or sales.

A valuable insight came from Duolingo's founder, Luis von Ahn, who emphasized they recruit people that are "excellent at their craft.“ This resonated with me as I realized that great contributions and progress in the company lead to a fulfilling work environment (and potentially prevent burnout).

Moreover, creating a company culture where everyone feels comfortable discussing their needs and aspirations is vital. It helps in nurturing growth and ensure achieving the company's goals.

Reflecting back, the trial project was a good way to test our working relationship. It was an effective way to test a potential co-founder. It reinforced that starting a business is not just about having a good idea but about building a strong, collaborative team ready to adapt and grow together toward achieving success.