Startup Founders: Are You Made For Each Other?

<p><em><strong>Ajay Batra</strong>'s advice for startups os before you declare yourself to be one – have some honest conversations with self and other co-founders</em><br><br><br>Alok and Reeba have known each other from their school days. Their families have also come to know each other well. Alok is an engineer from IIT-Delhi, and Reeba has a Masters in Education from Jamia. Both are exceptionally bright and hard-working. But, that’s not all that’s in common between them – they are also co-founders of a startup called “iLearn360”-that is hoping to revolutionize school education in India. Given the lack of capable teachers, and focus on rote learning – iLearn360 has developed technology enabled teacher-training curriculum for B.Ed. students that specializes in learning assessments, and are planning to equip teachers in schools across the country with a cell phone app that takes the drudgery from CCE (Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation). Their dream is to make learning productive and fun for all.<br><br>They have been working on their idea for six months; developing it, getting inputs from schools, making it multi-lingual and running it by experts in education. At this point they are quite clear on what their first product will offer, and they are excited about it. It’s time to take their startup from idea to implementation. Fortunately, their families have been supporting them all through – and the project has actually been funded by them.<br><br>While discussing market positioning, they have identified two clean segments – CBSE schools in urban areas and State-run government schools in rural India. Currently, Alok and Reeba are discussing their revenue models and pricing framework for these schools. The technology has been given free to about 50 B.Ed. institutions – where it is being used fairly regularly, and to good results. Alok is convinced that an annual per-child fee of Rs. 500 and Rs. 300 will work for the two segment of schools. Reeba is not convinced about the latter.<br><br>She has been watching the app being used in B.Ed. colleges (as a freebie) and feels that the socio-economic profile of students in government-run schools does not merit a charge – she want to give it free – as that’s the only the solution will be affordable.<br><br>In fact, Reeba is increasingly becoming sceptical of the revenue and profitability of their venture. Her social leaning gives her unique perspective of the ground realities; whereas Alok’s business-sense prevails all analysis.<br><br>Their differences are starting to grow – Reeba has been talking to the country’s biggest NGO’s to see if they would like to adopt their technology for free; while Alok has been busy tinkering their 5-year revenue/sales projections to show healthy profits to possible investors. Last week, in their meeting with the Chairman of a prominent private school chain – Reeba looked indifferent and distant.<br><br>When Alok confronted her, Reeba admitted that her social leanings are way too strong for her to seek profit in a tool that enables learning in children. She sees their endeavour more as a nation-building exercise than as a commercial enterprise. This was a total “no-go” for Alok; he was angry and frustrated with Reeba; but had the composure to honestly ask for a dissolution of their startup. They still have to decide about the ownership of the IP that they had both created together.<br><br>The above is a true story – with some facts changed. So often, we have witnessed passionate co-founders come together to create magic. Equally frequently, unfortunately, we have seen enterprises flounder because the co-founders’ ideas or value-systems don’t match.<br><br>So, our advice to Startups is that before you declare yourself to be one – have some honest conversations with self and other co-founders around three areas:<br><strong>1.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;What excites me in life? What am I really passionate about?</strong><br>These questions are to be pondered by each co-founder individually. Don’t just be analytical about it; feel your emotions as well. These could result in vast range of possibilities, e.g. I am really passionate about: reading and writing fiction / improving the quality of education / mobile technology / helping others / taking care of animals / travelling the world.<br><br><strong>2.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;What are my life’s goals?</strong><br>This is also an exercise to be done personally by each co-founder. Some answers we hear are: building a hugely admired company / create something unique and innovative as my legacy / do social work for the under-privileged<br>Let’s not forget, that given how broad this question is, the above answers are often supported by some examples like: be happy / make lots of money / compassionate / caring<br><br><strong>3.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;How aligned are we as co-founders?</strong><br>With the first two questioned answered in their privacy, it’s time for some honest and open conversations between the co-founders. Care must be taken to ensure that the exchange does not go down the path of their shared passion, i.e. business of launching the startup. Instead, the dialogue is about fundamental values, emotions and dreams that each founder cherishes. The co-founders share, discuss – but don’t question – each other’s answers to the first two questions. The real impact of these discussions happens when they ask themselves the fourth, “Does our proposed startup align with our collective passions and goals?”<br><br>This is not only a difficult question to answer, but the answers to this question can result in awkward situations. If all goes well, the team comes out with a clearer understanding of each other, and their overall purpose. If not, it’s better to surface these differences sooner than later.<br>Wish Alok and Reeba had these conversations six months ago. &nbsp;<br><br><em>The author, Ajay Batra, is the founder og Lutyens Startups</em></p>