Self-Sufficiency - Make sure that you trust your potential co-founder enough that you’ll feel comfortable letting them work on their own and make critical decisions.
You’re not looking for an assistant. You’re looking for an equal partner who can help you make decisions and grow your business to become successful.
Have complementary skills - You want to make sure that you and your co-founder have different skill sets, but skills that complement one another. For example, if you’re an idea guy, you’ll need someone who can handle the marketing, selling, and raising capital.
Value communication - If you can’t communicate well with your co-founder, you’re not going to be able to get anything done. Some people prefer face-to-face meetings, while others are fine to communicate over email and a messaging service for all but the most important things.
Have similar work habits - You want to make sure that your co-founder is willing to put in the same amount of work that you do, work similar hours, and communicate in a similar style.
Financially and emotionally stable -If you’re going to be working closely with this person, you need to know what’s going on in their life and how stable they are.
Agree to honesty - You’ve got to be able to talk about the tough stuff and be honest with your partner or you won’t be able to get anything done.
Without honesty, you’ll both feel like you’re always walking on eggshells and worrying about stepping on one another’s toes.
Understand the other side - When you’re looking for a co-founder, you need to know enough about what they do and the skills that you need to be able to know if they actually know what they’re talking about.
Agree on roles - Once you have found your potential co-founder, you need to make sure that you both agree on the role that each of you will play in the founding and growth of the business.
Get it in writing -Before you begin the hard work on the business, you need to make sure that you’re both in agreement.
