I wrote a blog post back in 2011 titled: 24 signs he's not right for you, and it is the single most visited and searched post on my blog.  That says something...  to me, it says people generally don't have guidance, good counsel, and or a model of what is good for a productive life, and what is not.

So I'm taking a twist on that post and doing it on what are the signs that a co-founder is not right for you.  To summarize it, I would say the most important ingredients are around 1) shared vision, 2) shared values, and 3) practical complementary skills to execute.  So here's my original curated list of signs that the guy or gal you are with or desperately pining after is not worth your time.  Most of them point to NOT being a team player, meaning they put their own self before all else. Startups are a team sport.  These are things I've noticed or heard 

1.  Lacking sense of urgency/accountability/ownership.  Regularly having to "cat-herd", chase down or PM your "partner" is not reasonable.  Don't be his or her "mom" or "dad".  There's no time for baby-sitting - everyone should be pulling their own weight and then some.  Having to follow up left and right to make sure items that said that were going to get done, get done.  That items that weren't supposed to get done are not being magically put in front of more high priority items.  It's exhausting.  Often you'll find "experts" with tons of "experience" that come in that only know how to highlight areas that need work or give ideas, but are terrible at actually getting anything done.  Be skeptical of all the "experts", look for recent actual experience with actual results, and then go and verify everything they said.
2.  Having to hang out with them is a chore.  You'd rather do anything else, and you do it only because you "should".  If you don't like them as a person, you don't like their significant others, ...  I'd see those as warning flags.  Sometimes you grin and try and look past it.  You can't fake it for long.  (Well, there are plenty of examples where the only thing you do like about your cofounder is your friendship and hanging out.  The work part sucks.)
3.  Getting them to show up is a chore.  Just like you don't want to hang out with your co-founder, your co-founder makes every excuse possible and doesn't show up to team meetings and events. This probably is an echo of #1... and #2.  Showing up is 50% of the battle.  Show up.  On time (or early).  Be present.  It's hard enough as it is - why deal with someone that isn't pulling their weight and on top of it, is pulling the chance of success for the team, down?  You're either in, or you're not.  Simple.
4.  Your "partner" challenges you, a lot - and not for the good of the team.  Not just a lot, but on everything - even items they know nothing about.  You burn so much time trying to get alignment, you often get nothing done. In fact, this cancerous "co-founder" will cause so much friction within the team that the company will likely just implode sooner or later.  There's the opposite possibility too - where the "partner" doesn't challenge you and acts as if they have no accountability or reason to care for the success of the team/company.  
5.  Seeks the glory, money, or credit.  Not a team player.  Not, no matter how you want to look at it. I've had partners from many years ago (that are no longer partners) put their personal fame or put more value on money above all else.  It doesn't work. Whether you have 2 or 5 people on the team, it's a SMALL team.  Everyone is IN and everyone is working on the shared goal.  It's a shared effort which means shared kudos.  Each person does what they can for the team.  The co-founders should do a whole lot more, together.  ...  or maybe everything about how the "cofounder" speaks, acts, writes... is begins with "I".  For some reason, that's always a hint that they put "I" ahead of the "we".  
6.  Calls you "boss" or "bossy" - or the opposite, sees you as merely the "code monkey" or the business admin/office admin.  A co-founder is a partnership.  Yes, one will often have more voting rights than the other.  It's still a partnership where you should be working together for the same team for a shared goal.  Both business and technical need to be in partnership.
7.  He/She daily talks about all of the other startups and companies out there - and how your startup together is not good enough.  We call that nonproductive whining.  Do something about it, focus on making your own startup/team better one step at a time.  Too much brain power and time spent on looking at others means less time spent on execution.
8.  He/She tries to set up meetings with investors and partners behind your back, often does not include you, even when as a team, everyone has agreed to focus on someone or something else.  This is usually from a lack of vision and values alignment - you aren't playing for the same team.  I have seen this from other startups as well - where one founder really wants to drive the investor conversations (but is not the CEO).  There's multiple messages being sent out "there".  The discombobulation has led to the company's implosion every single time I've seen this scenario.  You can't be divided in a startup - you have to be all hands on deck on the team's shared success. 
9.  He/She still has their old job title, their old company, their old everything as their personal branding is more important that their relationship as a co-founder in the startup.  It's just disrespectful - and shows they are not a team player.  You and your "co-founder" are playing for different teams.  I've seen people try and join our startup who never change their resume/job information while working with us or even after.  I've had business partners that completely erase any past failures we've had together from their records (which personally, I think is weird).  Actually, I've seen employees/colleagues do that in the past too - completely erase a job from their history after being part of the team for 1 or more years.  Make mental note - people that curate for appearances are not good for the team (let alone, a startup).  You're either IN, or you're not.  And there's nothing in between.  
10. His/Her family and friends are a weight on your cofounder.  Literally, nothing - their family may know absolutely nothing about this startup.  Unless you're in super secret squirrel stealth mode, that's a sign that you should walk away and separate, fast.  Startups are hard enough - we don't have time for betrayals and hiding unnecessarily from people in our lives.  Community, family and friend support is hugely helpful if anything.  I couldn't imagine doing a startup again without everyone's support.  The other side of this, is the cofounder may have a spouse/family that still just doesn't get what this cofounder/startup business means.  ... or maybe the cofounder just hasn't figured out how to manage their personal life and it's affecting their work in a bad way.  Whatever it is, have them figure it out fast - or move on.

Are there any others you'd like to add?  

Arry

This is a repost of an article that was published in Tech.co.

Pitch competitions are about having fun, knowing your hook, and building meaningful relationships.
​
Recently, I met up with Cassie Wallender, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Invio Inc., a company on a mission to target and eliminate clinical trial inefficiencies that slow or block new medical innovations by lowering the cost of clinical trial data while increasing the quality.

I met Cassie through the Red Scarf Project (#theRedScarfProject), a movement about women paying it forward to support other female entrepreneurs. When we met up, we traded notes on what it took for her team to win Seattle Angel Conference (SAC), a recurring Seattle angel-driven event where the investors create an LLC, engage in due diligence of the applying startup companies, and ultimately pool funds to invest in one of the presenting finalists.

Here are some tips to help you win your next pitch competition:

Focus on Fun and Growing on a Journey, Together
Angel conferences are one a great place to learn from both the perspectives of a new founder and a new investor. The process takes you through a journey of discovery and constructive feedback. You go through multiple rounds of pitches until the final six companies stand and make their pitch before all the members of the SAC.

Tip: Always bring at least one other person to all meetings and pitches to focus on taking notes, eavesdropping on the crowd, and talking to investors about what’s working (and what’s not). Regularly triangulate with your team member to figure out how to adjust in real time during the event.

Have and Know Your Hook
The teams that don’t advance often are trying to do too much. They come off as unfocused and undifferentiated. Pitching is sort of like dating — you have to be interesting enough to warrant a “next date.”

Tip: The basics of communication and presentations are important. For example, know your market size and details of the approach used to get that number. Use 30-point font with a high contrast background on all of your slides. Demonstrate through each and every action that the team is coachable and of high integrity. Trust is an important part of any sale.

The focus and goal of your pitch shouldn’t be several steps ahead to win the entire competition. The focus and goal of each pitch should be to get to the next meeting.
 
It’s All About Human-to-Human Relationships
​The journey of winning a pitch is actually much more about the authentic relationships being built through every action (or inaction), than just winning at the end of the day.  That way, no matter what the outcome of the pitch is, the experience, the learning and the relationships built will help you and the team grow. Show up early, stay late. Work the room as a team. Touch hearts and demonstrate that you are a trustworthy group of good people.

Cassie mentioned that they had also met with folks outside of the SAC meetings. This was a critical strategy they had to build trust with the people of SAC, giving them one-on-one time to ask questions. They also figured out who the fund manager was that way.

Tip: Don’t talk to the other companies or teams pitching/presenting. (This isn’t to be mean or taken personally. There’s limited time to get and demonstrate value.) Focus on building the relationships with the people who can impact your business (in this case, it’s the angel investors.) Be present. The keyword is focus. Focus on speaking with the cynical angel investors and really understanding why they disagree. The cynical ones are the ones who will likely be vocal later when you’re not in the room.

Be a Team
Have at least one other founder in the room as often as possible. This will double the impact that you have in the room and can talk to more people about your company

Tip: Brag about your team members. Brag about the team members who are not present. Talk each other up. People respond to anyone talking another person up. People don’t respond to bragging.

Know Your Numbers
Come prepared with detailed numbers, especially market size. I’ve learned it is important to be able to quantify the problem size.

Tip: Be able to speak to the methodology used to arrive at assumptions and hypothesis. Make sure all of the numbers and your story line up. Make sure you’ve done the research and have traction to show that your assumptions and hypothesis are sound. Find a good lawyer who will be able to partner with you in navigating funding.

Designate the most organized one of the team to keep everyone on track in terms of the legal documents, the process and presentation documentation.

At the end of the day, doing any kind of pitch or presentation is similar to being good at B2B sales. While the word “sales” may turn off many folks. To me, it is really important to remember that behind any business are real people. People buy from people. Focusing attention on building human trust and consistently demonstrating that is a solid way to ensure success for yourself and your company.

I wrote this a long while ago - and am only publishing this much later.  It's still very useful - well hopefully, to someone out there.

So you think you want to do a startup?  

My frame of reference is this: For some crazy reason, it's going to happen. I can't help myself as I often find myself asking the world, "well.... why not?"  Why be complacent with doing things the way they have always been done?  We have so many opportunities at our fingertips, and yet, we continue to struggle with inefficient, cumbersome, heavy badly designed products, services, and technology.  And every thing is silo'ed.  WHY!?

In the past 9 months, I've done things I've never done before: I quit a well-paid job that I had worked so much of my heart into, I jumped into building a startup with people I had only just recently met, I am working full-time on this startup, I've hired (and let go of) employees, I've taken investment, and the list goes on... and on.

While it is semi-fresh on my mind, I wanted to share with you the 10 things I have learned so far:

01.  ONE.  GFA.  "GET FUCKING AGGRESSIVE".  There's no way you want to waste time waiting, leaving your chance at success to chance.  Muscle it, go after it, bang on doors and get out and make your opportunities happen.  One door at a time.  One customer at a time.  One milestone at a time.  #hustle

02.  TWO.  GEEZ.  EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION.  Literally.  Every single person that you come into contact has an opinion, and only an opinion.  Some people will wear their 25 years of experience and tell you that they know more than you from where they sit about what you should do.  Some people will tell you straight to your face that, "you're a feature, not a business".  I've heard that what we're building is the best thing since sliced bread.  I've heard that the experience is amazing.  I've heard the flat out plain no (and yes).  The more "consumer" your business is, the more opinions you'll get.  The thing that I've realized quickly, is that no one should know the whole situation better than me.  No one.  It is a matter of perspective - and who is in the best position to make the best decisions for the company.  I've got to own it, dig into the details, not be shy, seek wise counsel, build and trust my team - and GFA.  Not let anything or anyone get in the way of making a great business go FLYING into the air.  It's do or die.  That's it.  Excuses of mentor/advisor/investor whip-lash do not work.  

03.  THREE.  TEAM IS EVERYTHING.  EVERYTHING.  Team beats product, marketing, brains, determination, and passion. Putting the Company ahead of yourself.  Getting the right people on the bus.  There are a LOT of great talkers out there - and there are a LOT of people who have lost sense of reality when it comes to where they are.  Some people have all the right intentions, and lack all the capabilities to execute.  Some people get stuck on titles and roles, and lack the ability to roll up the sleeves to get the MOST IMPORTANT THING that needs to get done, done.  Some people need a job with flexibility - or too much flexibility.  Get the right people on the bus.  Situations and environments change.  Get the wrong people off the bus as quickly as possible.  It sucks.

04.  FOUR.  TEAM.  NO DIVIDING AND CONQUERING.  In the world of startups, it is a serial process and all hands on deck to get the most important thing done.  All.  Hands.  Together.  For those that go rogue on working on whatever they think is more important and do not follow - you must absolutely get them off the bus fast.  Say goodbye or die.  You'll burn so much energy chasing them down it'll make you want to gouge the eyes out of the nearest human to you.  Don't go there.  Get them off the bus.

05.  FIVE.  MOST IMPORTANT THING MEANS FOCUS.  Focus is all about quickly looking at the lay of the land, the marketplace, the resources, and then diving in to execute the most important thing.  Once it's complete, popping the head back up for air to look at the lay of the land, the marketplace, the resources, then diving into execute the next most important thing on the list.  Sometimes members of the team will help keep an eye or a pulse on what's going on "out there" while the team is focused.  Sometimes, you won't have that luxury.  

06.  SIX.  MY BODY AND MIND ARE NOT MY OWN.  I feel like an asshole sometimes (actually a lot of times) when having to make the hard decisions. That's the "hard things about hard things" that Ben Horowitz refers to in his book.  I feel like an asshole when I'm sitting with my husband in the evening, and he looks at me and asks, "what are you thinking about"?  And I answer with, "GiftStarter".  I have sleepless nights where I toss and turn, and toss and turn, and repeat.  My existence seems to be to serve the best interest of GiftStarter, above my own personal interests.  Good thing is that my personal interests are aligned with GiftStarter's.  I am the current role as being as best a steward of the business as I can.

07.  SEVEN.  GREAT PRODUCT ALIGNED WITH A GREAT MARKET.  We aren't here to grow slowly.  We aren't here to end up in business purgatory that hits a ceiling after so many years.  We aren't here to build a lifestyle company - we're here to build a GREAT big company.  We're going for that harder road of hard roads of being a venture-backed company, too.  

08.  EIGHT.  DATA IS IMPORTANT - WITH THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE.   It means we listen, we read between the lines, and we look at the quantitative data too.  Yes, ... AND, we look at the quantitative data, too.  When creating something that doesn't exist yet, and creating something with a roadmap into the future from something that doesn't exist yet, data is great for the past and maybe the present.  Data cannot predict and influence the future.  

09.  NINE.  FAMILY & FRIENDS ARE PART OF THAT TEAM.  Yea, back to team.  Make sure your significant other, your spouse, your parents, your siblings, your friends are on your team.  The hours will be long.  I'm the worst friend ever - I haven't seen my friends in over a year.  I think my friend Silvia said something to the effect of, I figured you had gone missing in action because you had gone over to the startup world again.  Let me know when you're back.  My fur child of a dog rarely gets walked by me.  I'm now a parent to an amazing little baby boy and prioritizing his care is top of mind.

10.  TEN.  I LOVE MY STARTUP LIFE.  I feel like I am the luckiest human ever - and so thankful for all of the blessings, lessons, and people on this journey.  Lucky that my family is so supportive to enable and give me the chance to do this.  I like that I'm doing something with a purpose and mission.  I like the team we're growing.  I love my family and friends.  I love the process of trying, unwinding, redoing, swerving, ... hunting for the truth.  My heart falls on its knees and shouts for joy, multiple times in a day.  I feel alone and cry myself to sleep in despair some days.  I feel like I'm on cloud 9 surrounded by angels and people full of hugs and genius other days.  This journey is CRAZY!

Hugs.
Arry

I have to remember to ask, always, ... so, "am I the quarterback on this one", too?  I definitely feel like the abused if I'm ALWAYS the default quarterback.  

The concept of the "quarterback" was introduced to me when I was in consulting.  Clients were paying anywhere from $125 to $525/hour for my time (to my employers, I got like quarters), and they have (or should have) expectations.  Client expectations like: 1) "this consultant is always going to add value if they are billing me", and 2) "if I ask this consultant to do something, I can trust that they will NOT drop the ball".  

#1 means, a person is ALWAYS adding value.  Taking notes for the entire group.  Thinking about the edge cases.  Thinking about timing.  Thinking about execution. SHARING and voicing those observations with others.  COMMUNICATING.  Coordinating.  COLLABORATING.  SOMETHING!!!!!!!

#2 means, you're the quarterback.  NOT ONLY for the items on your OWN to do list, but for the ENTIRE team, especially your client(s).  EVERYONE.  You're the one that is CAT-HERDING, following-up, taking notes, scheduling the meetings, checking off action items, making sure the ball does NOT get dropped.

If you're good at consulting (see #1 and #2), that means, you can be good at a LOT of things.  

What I find is that the REST of the world (98%) doesn't know or think about:
1) Team-focused group benefit, "we" over "me", "others first" orientation
2) Adding value each and every minute they are awake (or getting paid)
​3) Best ways to communicate and keep everyone in sync
4) Best ways to make sure that the ball is moving forward for everyone.
5) Asking the question, "are we all on the same page?" 

THESE ARE THE BASICS.  What I find when I mentor students in university, is that they have NONE of these basics.  They have NO IDEA about how to actually work effectively.  You can tell in the first 15 minutes if someone's going to make it or not.  Give them feedback and set expectations.  It takes 2 meetings to have a point to point pattern, 3 if you really want to be sure.  Perhaps, universities should start teaching MORE PRACTICAL LIFE and WORK BASIC ADULT-ING SKILLS!  

As an employer or hiring manager, unless you have the patience of a saint (I don't), make sure you have an "onboarding" plan on how to teach and train a new college grad how to work effectively.  If I give you a task, ask clarifying questions.  Check in with me with status.  Don't make me manage you (or we'll BOTH be unhappy).  And no one wants to micro-manage, and no one wants to be micro-managed.  And shit, if anyone is spending all of their time managing and micro-managing, the company you work for has DEFINITELY got some major issues.  If that's your answer, it's NOT A FIT.  I think that's why hiring someone that actually does have internship or 1-2 years or work experience makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE in work-productivity and efficiency, ESPECIALLY FOR A STARTUP.  

And by default, always asking or implicitly expecting the SAME PERSON to always be the quarterback for EVERYONE in the room, IS NOT COOL.  That's PURE LAZINESS.  

EVERYONE should know how to quarterback a task, a project, a workstream, a plan, a company.  If you don't, I'd highly recommend learning this skill - it will increase your effectiveness infinitely.

--Arry