ITK: Tips for Co-Founder Success
Finding your ideal mate in business.
Many of us have a vision of launching a business with co-founder who is the perfect compliment to our right brain or left-brain selves. Strong creatives tend to seek business strength and vice versa, but actually finding the perfect fit can be more difficult than we like. This is largely because we 1. Travel in circles that tend to be more like us 2. Don’t understand our own personalities, weaknesses and core competencies 3. Are eager to find someone that when we do we say “YES” too quickly. There is a formula to finding the right partner and setting yourself up for success. Lets dive in.
YOUR INNER GAME
Your capacity to understand your traits as a leader is essential. Are you passive aggressive? Can you hire people well, but struggle with firing? Do you think you are always right? Maybe you have self-worth issues. Or, like me, maybe you are a work-a-holic and treat your business like it’s your first-born. No matter what your unique personality type, it's critical to understand how you work and to be honest about it. Launching a business is not the time to work through your personal baggage, but you are the center of your business so these things do come up. You need to square away personal obstructions and work through anything that might keep you from performing at your optimum. I suggest making a list of how you like to work, what types of personalities you have worked well with in the past, and what might someone else need to know about you to know if you are a good fit for them. Do you like to do things last minute but never miss a deadline? Your potential co-founder will need to know not to worry about your commitment.
"Launching a business is not the time to work through your personal baggage."
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WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TABLE
Aside from bringing a great idea to the conversation you need to stack up your skill sets. I always ask my clients to make lists: what are they really good at, what would they like to learn, and what is something that they would have to hire out/have zero interest in learning. If you are a creative that struggles with business matters or vice versa it's important to itemize the specifics. I work with a lot of clients that are creatives and need a business backbone, and let me tell you, you can be successful doing it on your own, but its definitely easier when you are working with someone who loves MS Excel if you hate it.
MATTERS OF MONEY
Who pays for what? With a biz partnership it's cleaner if both parties can equally split liability and expenses. Not only does this keep things feeling balanced, but there is true shared ownership. If going 50/50 is not a possibility and you are looking for a co-founder to fund the operation, you might actually be looking for an investor. In my experience having a co-founder that's really an investor can muddy decision-making processes. A co-founder should be able to bring something beyond money to the table. They should have skills and expertise that will relate directly to the day-to-day operations. If your co-founder is unable to invest as much money as you are or nothing into the business it’s critical that you stipulate in your operating agreement how your investment gets paid back over time and if/when the company dissolves. At the end of the day this is about playing fair, doing what’s right for the business and yourself.
"Having a co-founder that's really an investor can muddy decision-making processes."
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DOING BUSINESS WITH FRIENDS & LOVERS
In theory it’s a wonderful idea to start a business with a friend or romantic partner. Working with someone you know you already like and have things in common can be very rewarding, but it does require knowing yourself very well to pull this off successfully. Before launching into a business idea with someone you care about make sure to ask yourself and him or her- why now? Why would you two be the best to do this together? What complimentary traits do you have? Discuss how long you want to test the process and have a trial period together before committing to a contract. And yes, you will want a contract! Business amongst friends/lovers can still get ugly and you want to have a contract out of respect for you and them. The goal is to preserve the relationship and possibly launch an amazing business!
TINDER FOR CO-FOUNDERS
I wish there was Tinder for Co-Founders (kind of like Bumble BFF...). But as of now there are only co-founder sites that really focus on technology. Sites like CoFoundersLab, FounderDating, and Angellist are a few places to look if you are looking to start an ecommerce site, otherwise I suggest good old fashion LinkedIn and reaching out in Facebook groups, friends and family. As you would on a first date, you need to make sure to meet your potential co-founder for coffee or a drink and not just trust the phone or email. You wouldn’t marry someone without really knowing him or her right? So why would you risk your financial investment working with someone you don’t know well. (Jessica Alba jokes that partnering up with her co-founder is like an arranged marriage.) I suggest dating around. Dating around means having lots of coffees and working on small projects with someone to test out the personality styles and core competencies. Think of it as an experiment. You could sign an NDA, but really, it's not necessary unless you have a patent pending. Ideas are easy come, easy go, but execution is hard. You need a partner you can execute with that has a shared vision. Don’t expect your first couple dates will yield a co-founder! Be patient.
"Ideas are easy come, easy go, but execution is hard."
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Some people are not co-founder types and that can be as useful to know about yourself as is finding the right partner. Business owners who fly solo must take it upon themselves to find the right help to get things done. It's impossible to think you can run a business all by yourself- you simply won’t scale. You need support, someone to challenge you, and someone to fill the holes.
Syama Meagher is a retail strategist for brands and retailers. She helps entrepreneurs launch and grow fashion business through ecommerce, wholesale and brick & mortar. Syama is a former at Barneys New York, Gucci, AHAlife and Macy’s. To build your brand and create a profitable business check out www.ScalingRetail.com and email hello@scalingretail.com
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Wellness: Erin Falconer & Geri Hirsch, LEAFtv
It's their Year of Wellness.
This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full Wellness List Here.
It's their Year of Wellness.
Geri is wearing Keds' Triple Dalamta Dot Leather.
Sexism. It’s not something you hear a lot about in the blogging world, especially since women are the predominant money makers, but both Geri Hirsch and Erin Falconer, co-founders of LEAFtv both say that they have experienced and been challenged by “sexism, on many occasions.”
If it exists, they would know. Erin and Geri have been in the blog space for over a decade. “I co-founded LEAFtv due to my love of the digital space,” shares Geri, “and the need for how-to videos.” This was pre-digital madness, “a time when millions didn’t exist.” The early intrepid explorers were, “immediately caught up in the magic of the web,” says Canadian-born Erin. As a lifestyle and wellness destination for millennial women, Geri and Erin became staple digital darlings on the scene; the duo had a bit of magic themselves. They've slowly and surely built a digital brand and platform that now reaches over 8 million readers every month and have the unique advantage of witnessing the last decade's social evolution.
Erin, who is also the Editor in Chief of PickTheBrain, a blog she founded seven years ago, is very frank about the change of social. “I wish I could say that there still exists a truly social experience, but for me it's becoming more and more about algorithms - which is kind of sad. It used to be fun, exciting and I felt like I really made an impact and now, it feels like you have to pay to access your own audience,” which she shares is something she won’t do.
“Social,” says Geri, “is now a huge part of our marketing and growth overall.” Erin says that “When it comes to social,” the first thing is to stop “thinking of it as social and start thinking about it as a business.”
"Stop thinking of it as social. Start thinking of it as a business."
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It what they've done. Last year the partners got new (glowing) skin in the digital game when they expanded into the subscription model with Year of Wellness, their way of providing people an easy way to live well. “There wasn’t a subscription providing an entire year of products and advice on wellness,” says Geri. “We wanted to be those people.”
For her part, Erin is “personally thrilled that the era of Wellness is upon us. Starting about 18 months ago we saw a real shift in the content that our audience was responding to on YouTube (with LEAF).” Followers were asking more questions about their routines and certain wellness practices. “We both had the lightbulb moment at the same time: there is a real need for information and access to experiences across the country and nobody was really filling that void in a comprehensive way.” They got to work. Eight months later YOW arrived.
Geri is wearing Keds' Triple Dalamta Dot Leather.
Which brings us to the overwhelm factor. The balance of staying well while running businesses and keeping up with the internet joneses.
They cop to the “exhaustion of social media,” but a shared love of wellness and positive feedback from their LEAFtv tribe, as well as being a “tiny part of shifting someone’s world,” is enough to fight through the rapid pace of a changing market, bureaucracy, and their vision. Which includes knowing, says Geri, that “attaining perfection is overrated,” and “striving for it is invaluable.” They're also beholden to their own routines, including mediation, which without Erin says “I just don't think I'd have the calm, the focus or the energy to do what I'm doing.”
"Attaining perfection is overrated. Striving for it is invaluable."
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What is incredibly valuable is their approach to the work and the definitely female future. “It is my solid contention that we have entered the era of the woman,” says Erin. “The internet and all it offers (if we can figure out how to use it the right way) is designed to lift women up. Gone are the days of the classical work hierarchies of oppression for women. Gone are the choices: Work or family. It is an amazing time to be a woman, and I truly believe each and every one of us (specifically most of the people on this list!) has the chance to make a great difference to future generations of women. I couldn't be more excited to be a part of it all.”
Styling provided by Reservoir LA. Hair and makeup provided by Glamsquad. Photography courtesy of Light Lab and Woodnote Photography.