Finding Your Founding Team

Who are they?

A founding team consists of the founder and the co-founders that have complimentary skills. The founding team is the foundation of the company that will turn an idea into a business.

Where to find them?

There are so many ways to find your team members but the most common source is from school friends, colleagues, work friends, someone you know in a personal level, have a long relationship with. This is to know how you get along, to understand what kind of skillset they have and see whether the two of you connect.

Take Ruangguru for example, Belva and Iman knew each other in college, they met again in the same community years after. Founders of Zilingo, Ankiti and Dhruv worked in the same industry before they decided to build their own company.

Another way is to search outside your close circle of friends like a network through mutual friends,  startup communities, founders matchmaking program, or network through mutual friends. Our founders from COVE Living met the team in Antler, a startup matchmaking community.

Characteristics of a winning team

A winning team should have leadership quality, equal stake in the company, and complimentary skill set. Another important thing to have is chemistry. A way to build chemistry is by getting to know each other, just like a normal relationship.

“They call it founder dating, so that you can assess whether you can build a meaningful relationship with your co-founders. Because chemistry over and over again is just very important so you can build a relationship that enables to create a supportive and collaborative working environment. And if you have that, then you can build an aligned vision”, Adit explained.