How do you evaluate the skills and fit of a co-founder or team member before hiring them?

Regardless of the specific skills required for a particular role, a candidate's willingness to learn and ability to take initiative are essential qualities that contribute to their overall success and potential growth within an organization. These qualities are often referred to as "soft skills" or "essential skills" because they transcend technical or job-specific knowledge and are applicable across various professions and industries.

You need to seek discomfort -up to a point. Finding a complementary and relevant skill set to that of your team is important, but identifying the person who you will be comfortable to be challenged by is the epitome of hiring success. To be challenged, you need to respect their IQ, they need to have the personality to push boundaries and explore. To be comfortable, this must be done in a way that does not infringes on your team’s values: passion is good, aggression or bullying are not.

Do not hire in your own image. It must be ying and yang, a different lens, a different background.. diversity of thinking is the most important thing at this stage of business team growth.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses. What you can do really well and where you would need someone to complement exceptionally well. Say product strategy/ Tech. Sales/Marketing. What are the personal traits you need. What’s your style and what are your non negotiable. Plan your conversations and see if they give post your evaluation. You should be really able to enjoy working with them. Make sure you have goal framework and have a strict commitment to adhere to it. Respect their time, give and seek genuine feedback. Be consciously and genuinely interested in each other’s success. This gives confidence to the Co-founders that you’re in this together.

Using @Lou Adler win-win hiring framework has helped us a lot in defining the performance for each Job. Generative Ai tools like chatGpT are a great ally for analyzing job roles and providing job descriptions

Some cities hold events specifically for funding cofounders. Know ahead of time what you are considering for equity split. Their skills should fill gaps for the org and yourself as the other founder. Most of the time I see founders looking for a technical cofounder

Best to always start with your alum network. The past companies you've worked at, the college you've studied at, the school you've gone to, etc. If nothing works directly, someone will connect you with someone who they know. Networking is the only thing that wins.

For potential team members, it is a good idea to engage them in an advisory capacity. If they are genuinely excited about your business, they will be willing to spend time learning more about your problems and helping you think through some solutions. It is also a great way for them to get to know you better. This engagement will facilitate the "fit" assessment for both parties.

Initiative is a crucial quality for employees to possess, as it demonstrates their proactiveness, creativity, and ability to take ownership of tasks. Assessing initiative involves evaluating a candidate's ability to identify problems, generate solutions, and take action without being explicitly told what to do.

I got this valuable insight from Alex Hormozi: When considering candidates for senior roles, such as co-founders or management positions, the litmus test for a strong candidate is whether you are learning from them. Besides the usual essentials like work ethic and culture fit, it's important to evaluate prospective hires by assessing whether you're acquiring knowledge and fresh insights during the interview (or even before the interview, through their social profiles). If you find yourself learning from them, you likely have a strong candidate. Conversely, if the majority of the learning flows in the opposite direction, it may indicate a misalignment, unless you’re hiring for a junior position.

Definitely look for technical skills and competency. Perhaps, look for what can they bring or what access do they have that you are lacking in. Co - founders need to be support systems, not liabilities.

Test if you’re able to have a ‘hard conversation’ from the start. If there’s any specific issues you’re avoiding (compensation, equity split, clear job scope, etc), it’s a red flag for trust issue. So testing the commitment and trust is inevitable. Understanding each other’s communication and work style is a key to a successful co-founder relationship too. What time and how often you speak to each other? Do you enjoy working together? What can be the deal breaker? When would you see yourself no longer a good fit to the company? I usually recommend founders to have a trial period of 6-12 weeks before officially onboarding. It’ll help both sides to evaluate the fit for real.

Partnership and employment are the important factor in any hiring. When we finally hired a candidate, we need to fix his salary or give him a good partnership share. If he will earn good, he will also work good. We should try to give him Some bonus as well.

Stress and conflict are predictable in a fast moving, problem-solving team. To mitigate clashes in your new team, consider facilitating a team session built around one of the psychometric diagnostics that identifies different personality types under stress. The conversation and appreciation that your team mates operate in different ways to you is probably more important than which metrics you use. People jump to conclusions very quickly, so making this part of of the team formation / induction process can build rapport and avoid misconceptions.

Legalzoom is a great resource to get a founders agreement. In the event someone were to want to exit the venture, not see it through to next stage, or stops putting the hours in - the agreement can protect the org and other founder.

Keep it simple. Factor in when they are joining, what stage the company is at, what skills they bring to the table - what the market value of those skills are etc. Then add an element of "I find it joyful to be working with this person" part of the compensation. Not everything is objective.

Put together a small project. Allow other perspectives and ways of thinking about problem solving. If it works on a small scale, big things will work too

From my personal experience if we talk about feedback a founder must have a skill to LISTEN and ACT. Feedback plays a pivotal role in growth. Constructive feedback helps individuals identify areas for improvement and build on their strengths, leading to personal and professional development. Likewise, celebrating achievements, no matter how small, boosts morale and a positive work culture. As a leader, it's also essential to create opportunities for continuous learning and development, enabling a co-founder or team to acquire new skills and stay up-to-date with industry trends. Providing support during challenges and difficulties demonstrates a commitment to their well-being and resilience, enhancing their motivation and determination.

One of the key points to look at is the Co-founder being able to bring on complementary skills sets to your skill sets, and commit to being in the StartUp for the Long Term. There is no point in sharing a Short Term Goal of building the StartUp for say 1-3 years and then Selling out. Both Founders have to believe in the Long Term future of the StartUp and therefore build accordingly, over a period of time the StartUp has to build up and become stronger to even try to be able to List on the Stock Exchange, and this can be a Long Term vision

Ever feel like you're solo-juggling fire? Don't forget, your co-founder and team are the groove to your beat. In this emoji-driven world, nothing tops a heartfelt, face-to-face chat to share not just memos, but visions. Your goals? They're not just bullet points on a vision board; they're your team's guiding North Star. And don't underestimate the power of feedback—it's the currency that enriches your collective skills. Celebrate your wins, no matter how small, because a little fist bump goes a long way in boosting morale. You're not just the MVP here; you're Also the coach. So lead by example, especially when the going gets tough. At the end of the day, your team isn't just the backbone of your startup; they're its soul.

ALWAYS have a high-level plan, strategy in place, and keep deliverables that can be tracked everyday - this allows for progress as well as growth in professional careers. Linking comp with outcomes also helps to some extent. From my Microsoft days, I learnt that every commitment you make should be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. Once the commitments are in place, holding each other accountable is key.

As you grow, roles will evolve & your people need to be able to develop themselves. Your competitive advantage is dependent on them doing so. Learning tech and catalogues of content are very affordable and improving daily. So much so that the investment business case is, for most organisations, a no-brainer.