The power of two

Two is the right number.

Think Jobs and Wozniak (Apple), Allen and Gates (Microsoft), Hewlett and Packard (HP), Larry and Sergei (Google).

Solo founders can work out - Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook).

Two founders works because there are no founder politics, interests can easily align, and founder stakes are high.

Solo is great. Two is better. Avoid everything else.

My first business was three co-founders.

Didn’t work out.

In three-body companies, politics is though.

The more people, the lower each stake.

Less stake = less motivation.

One builds, one sells

In two-person startups, the roles are clearly distributed.

One builds, one sells.

Doesn’t mean that one cannot help the other out.

My technical co-founder for example recently closed a client, because I couldn’t join the meeting.

That’s the beautiful part of not being a solo founder.

Non-negotiable: Intelligence, energy, and integrity

More criteria: Culture, habits, wealth, hustle

Have aligned motives.

If one person just wants to build a cool product, and the other one wants to get rich, it won’t work.

Therefore, have a similar level of wealth, same goals, similar habits.

Do all-nighters together.

Hit the gym together.

Party together.

Learn to sell. Learn to build.

Learn to code even if you are a non-technical founder.

It gives you a strengthened position in the company.

For example, when communicating with developers.

Already taken?

What if the right person already has his own startup? Convince him to work on yours part-time — they’ll drop their idea once yours gets traction.

PS: Pick nice people

~ Timo