

How to Avoid Mediocre Co-Founders - rams
http://ycombinator.posterous.com/how-to-avoid-mediocre-co-founders-0

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banana
I think this is very very important.

I'm myself suffering having made such a move. I get things done very fast, my
cofounder doesn't. It makes me more tired every day, as I see that every
problem that arises (or anything new that has to be created, administrated)
will eventually end up on my shoulders. I do the programming, administration,
legal work, financing etc... Everything we sell, all our intellectual property
was created by me.

Also in our business plan (which he spent like 4-5 months working in it), we
should already be ultra profitable right now. But guess where we stand. And
this journey already takes over 1 1/2 years.

I guess it's time for a change soon. I wish I would have been much more
careful choosing whom to start my business with.

~~~
david927
There's often cultural pressure to take a co-founder. Don't listen to it. You
are different, and what's worked for others is only a suggestion; never a
rule.

Everyone should know that each partnership has one who works harder and brings
more. You have to know, going in, that it might be you and how you would feel
about it.

Finally, it's not your partner's fault the business plan isn't panning out;
they never do. They exist to help you clear your thoughts, not to predict the
future.

~~~
banana
I don't have any problem with the business plan not working out as intended,
but spending so much time on it, and then having nothing at the end, this is
what I have a problem with it.

I would have rather seen him spending the time on selling our product.

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gcheong
Nice generalization that doesn't address the question of just what constitutes
an A-player vs. B,C, and Losers and why I should think that an A-player in one
situation will continue to be an A-player in another or if, given the right
incentives, whether a B,C,Loser can become an A-player.

~~~
adrianwaj
If you look at another and think "he is better than me at x,y,z" and you feel
jealous, and want some type of retribution or revenge, you are a B player.

The A-player makes their skill or activity look easy and isn't conceited about
it, they are primarily trying to out-do themselves. They aren't trying to add
some egotistical emotional experience to themselves via the startup process.

A B-player won't want an already successful, serial entrepreneur as a co-
founder. They want the glory. They want to own any success, even it is
another's, with which they'll aim to claim.

Also, B-player investors are those that follow other investors, they can't
make an investment decision on their own, so they follow the A-players and
pretend to be A, but they're not.

~~~
dabent
"If you look at another and think "he is better than me at x,y,z" and you feel
jealous..."

If you look at another an think of how that person being better at x,y,z would
make them a huge asset to your company, you just might be an A player.

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gizmo
If A players hire A players and B players hire C players, how do the B players
ever get hired?

Yes, I'm being facetious. But even fortune-cookie level business advice should
pass basic sanity checks like this one.

~~~
hga
By fooling A players into thinking they're As? Hard, but I'm sure it happens.

However most of it might be convincing Bs they are Cs ... and what happens
after that is not pretty for the hiring B, I suspect.

One likely characteristic of Bs is less than total honesty, with self and
others.

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idlewords
This post boils down to 'Avoid Hiring Mediocre Co-Founders by Hiring Good
Ones'. Every day I learn something new here.

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alexro
If you want to know what kind of player you are, think about how you respond
to difficult situations or poorly done work. If you feel anger or kind of OK
with it, then you're all but A player.

On the other hand, if you feel an urge to do the best possible move then you
end up doing the work yourself, eventually turning into a star, or you hire
these who can do better then you. That way you get the A score.

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ErrantX
That seemed full of pretty bland "corporate" words until the last paragraph
(of the quote) - which makes the point well.

