Entrepreneur Column Lays Out Three Tests for Picking a Co-Founder

A contributor column published by Entrepreneur urged founders to run a three-step screening process before giving anyone half of their company, arguing that "just find a co-founder" is poor advice for new entrepreneurs.

The writer, who said he has spent more than 30 years starting companies, recommended first profiling your own strengths and weaknesses and writing a second list of what the business needs that you do not bring, treating that list as the co-founder job description. Complementary skills are an advantage, he wrote, citing Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as an example of partners who were not clones.

The second step is comparing values on money, ethics, ambition and risk separately, then discussing the answers. The third is working toward a difficult shared milestone — such as building a prototype, landing the first 10 paying customers or raising the first $100,000 — to see how a potential partner behaves under pressure.

He said he once invested in a company started by four friends that generated millions of dollars in sales but filed for bankruptcy within two years; the partners had not organized themselves around their individual strengths, according to the column. He also wrote that founders do not necessarily need a co-founder and can hire expertise, outsource functions or recruit advisers instead.

This story was first reported by Entrepreneur.