Co-Founder Conflict. Let's talk about it 🎙️ Catch our new podcast, How I Met My Co-Founder!
New Podcast! Real conversations on how startup teams met, built trust, and navigated conflict. Hosted by Annie Garofalo, sponsored by Confidante.
Hello founders, investors, startup ecosystem supporters! If you’re on this list, then I know you recognize the importance of founding team relationship health in building successful startups. Whether you attended one of Confidante’s NYC/SF/LA/Boston/Chicago events, participated in our workshops, or met me for even a quick chat, you’ve likely heard me lament:
“65% of Startups Fail due to Preventable Co-Founder Conflict, and No One’s Talking About It!”
So let’s change that! Welcome to How I Met My Co-Founder: The Podcast, a series of conversations with founding teams (like yours!) on how they met, built trust, and navigated conflict. Together we will uncover stories and best practices to mitigate the most perilous yet overlooked startup risk: the co-founder relationship.
Today, we launch our first episode with Nikhil and Spencer of BuildBetter - childhood friends turned co-founders. Listen, watch, or read below:
How can you help?
🎙️ Be the first to listen, comment, and rate on your favorite podcasting platform — Spotify / Apple / YouTube / Google / Pod Website.
🌐 Forward and share with friends, founders, investors - the more we share, the more conversation around founder mental health and relationship health.
📧 Reach out to me (annie@confidante.info) with any feedback, ideas for guests, or questions you’d like answered.
First Episode Summary:
Brought to you by Confidante, preventing the co-founder conflicts that kill 65% of startups.
Spencer Shulem, Nikhil Shinday, and Adam Stanford are co-founders of BuildBetter.
After a decade working in and around startups, Spencer and Adam started BuildBetter in 2020. Soon after, Spencer brought in his childhood friend, Nikhil, as a third co-founder and CTO. Since then, they’ve secured millions in funding from leading investors like Wing, Tidal, Surface, Village Global, and OnDeck, and Telegraph Hill Capital and made thousands of product teams around the globe more efficient.
But those are the only business stats you’ll see today. Instead, our conversation with Spencer and Nikhil focuses exclusively on the relational-side of venture building: the co-founder relationship.
In our conversation, we discuss:
When is it right to found a company with a close friend - the risks and the rewards
Adding a third co-founder to an existing founding team and building equal trust
The benefits of a co-founder relationship coach
How they managed one of the team’s biggest disagreements
What it means to be a co-founder (at BuildBetter)
How to have fun while building a business (+ using memes in Slack to define roles)
Some takeaways:
Not all close friends will make great co-founders - think carefully about who you work with - as Spencer says, “you're spending your life with these people, even more time than you would with your spouse” (Searching for a co-founder? See: “Finding the One and Lasting” article for tips)
Conflict (when done respectfully) can be one of the greatest form of intimacy and a sign of trust building up. People often share their honest opinion only when they know it will be treated with respect
It’s easier to have hard conversations when they are scheduled and facilitated (especially early on). Regular relationship check ins can help the team surface disagreements and create “Co-Founder Maps” (see: “Sound Relationship House for Co-Founders” article)
Take responsibility for your function, but also lean on your co-founders. You should respect your founding team enough that you *want* to use them as a sounding board, if not take a deeper look at if they’re the right fit
The expectations of a “co-founder” are subjective. Spend time defining what the co-founder role means to you. How do you want to be supported not only functionally (skillsets-wise), but also socially (as a leader, decision maker) and emotionally (during the ups and downs)?
Listen now on Spotify / Apple / YouTube / Google / Pod Website.
Podcast produced by www.confidante.info. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@confidante.info.