Starting a company together is a multi-year commitment. Skills are easy to check. Expectations about money, time, risk and ambition are where teams break up. These questions bring them to the surface early.
Do it over two or three sessions. Each of you answers every question, and you compare. There are no right answers, only answers that fit or don't.
Motivation and goals
- Why do you want to start a company, and why this one?
- What does success look like in 3 years? In 10?
- Would you rather build a profitable company you control, or raise money and aim for something huge?
- At what offer would you sell the company?
Time and money
- How many hours a week can you give now, and when could you go full-time?
- How many months can you live without a salary?
- Are you willing to put in your own money? How much?
- What would make you quit and take a job?
Roles and decisions
- Which areas do you want to own? Which do you want nothing to do with?
- Who should be CEO, and why?
- How do we decide when we disagree?
- How do you feel about bringing in a third co-founder later?
Working style
- How do you react under stress? How will I know?
- Tell me about a conflict at work and how it ended.
- How do you like to give and receive criticism?
- What are you bad at?
- What does your family or partner think about you starting a company?
Write the answers down. When you later fill in your co-founder agreement, half of it is already decided.