^Feedback

^Co-Founders

This can be a touchy subject for some founders, but not for me.

Because startups inherently are high-risk, high-stakes, emotional, chaotic, complicated, uncertain, and finding someone crazy enough to join you requires a metric f**k ton of trust.

And the unforgiving part about trust is that it can take years to build, and can crumble due to a single action or moment.

Back to School

For example, think of a startup like any high school class project…

Do you recruit your friends? Do you ask the class know-it-all? What about the annoying kiss a** who gets good grades? Maybe the shy girl who will do her fair share? How about the hard working athlete with a busy schedule? Heck, why not your classroom crush who sits in front?

There’s a balance between communication, drive, participation, compatability, execution, and obviously, trust.

But the easy part about the class project is it’s all structured. You choose from your classmates, are given the task at hand, provided a due date, rubric, you get the point.

Needless to say, you get none of that in the startup world.

Techstars

I spent the summer of 2022 with the Techstars SportsTech Accelerator in Indianapolis.

The days were jam packed with their 12 newest portfolio companies, followed by some sort of social event in the evening, and then I’d squeeze the remaining hours of the day on Habits.

But relative to co-founders, I got a ton of time with each of these startups, both professionally and personally.

So I was able to learn very quickly how important it is to have a partner in crime.

Sourcing A Co-Founder

But where to begin, right?

I started on message boards, reddit, YCombinator’s founder match website, LinkedIn, friends, friend of friends, the Techstars mentor madness roster, and literally anyone who would take my call.

And the more conversations I had the more I realized how lost, confused, and how insufficient these google docs, google sheets, e-introductions, and whatever I had under the www.myhabits.io (our original domain) umbrella to share with these interested candidates.

But if you want to take a look, here’s the first deck I made for Habits.

(It’s okay to laugh, it’s humbling to see where we have come from)

The Result

Eventually, I found myself with about 10 possible candidates.

The person who stood out was Veera Budhi.

Candidly, he looked really good on paper, knew his sh*t, and we had virtually nothing in common except for our work ethic.

Which is what mattered to me the most.

So…he began joining me on calls and we met regularly over nights and weekends. Before I knew it, he was spearheading all things technology, operations, engineering, and still continues to do that today.

Friends & Family

Next week I’m officiating a wedding for two of my closest friends.

And it got me thinking that the dynamic between friends, family, spouses, former colleagues, neighbors, and just how your overall social circle can make or even break the launch of a startup.

I’ll share about how I lied to my parents, raised $0 capital from friends & family, and all the little things early on.

^{Find Your Financial Advisor}

If you’re somebody on the sidelines or are not sure if a financial advisor makes sense for you or your family, just shoot me an email at [email protected].

Or… visit our website and book time with us!

Thanks for reading, Habits fam. See you back here next week for more.

-JB