Operations

Raise capital, update investors and engage your team from a single platform. Try Visible free for 14 days. The way startups build and innovate changes every year. If you look back at just 20 years, 10 years, or 5 even years ago – the way startups work and innovate has dramatically changed. As the way startups innovate changes so do the tools and resources available to startups. Over the last 2 or 3 decades, SaaS (software as a service) products have continued to grow and take over the technology landscape. Related Resource: The SaaS Business Model: How and Why it Works Learn more about SaaS products and how they can build your business below: What are SaaS products? SaaS is short for software as a service. Salesforce, oftentimes considered one of the original SaaS companies, explains it as, “Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management. SaaS applications are sometimes called Web-based software, on-demand software, or hosted software. Whatever the name, SaaS applications run on a SaaS provider’s servers. The provider manages access to the application, including security, availability, and performance.” Before SaaS products, it required companies to buy expensive hardware and have a physical location for employees to access their software. With SaaS products, any employee with internet can access their software from anywhere in the world. Related Resource: 20 Best SaaS Tools for Startups Learn more about the benefits and types of SaaS products below: Why should startups use SaaS products? At this point, it is assumed that most, if not all, startups are leveraging SaaS products to build their company. SaaS products enable employees to access their software and tools from anywhere across the globe. Because of this it enables remote work and allows startups to hire the best talent anywhere on the planet. Additionally, SaaS products are robust and can be tailored to just about any business. This allows teams to build, communicate, and automate quicker than ever before. It also allows for teams to get set up and use a new tool quickly — in the past, this would be a long process that could take months but now can be solved in a quick onboarding or upload. Learn more about the specific benefits of leveraging SaaS products for your business below: Benefits of SaaS products We’ve alluded to the benefits of SaaS products throughout this post but there are a few key benefits that are especially worth mentioning: Save time with automation One of the biggest benefits of SaaS products is pure time save. Software products can take manual tasks and turn them into an automated process that can save countless hours. Cost efficiency Another major benefit of SaaS products is cost efficiency. Most SaaS products offer tiered pricing and annual discounts that can lead to huge cost savings for startups. As more startups implement SaaS tools the pricing and plans have evolved to help scale with companies as they grow. Easy integration Another benefit of the explosion in SaaS products is the integrations and the ease to set them up. Most companies will have a somewhat similar tech stack so there are natural integrations that have evolved that will help startups connect existing tools and automate even more processes. You can also check out tools like Zapier that help connect SaaS products. Remote work SaaS products only require access to the internet. Because of this, employees can work from anywhere. This might help enable a remote or hybrid work environment and allow employees to work from home or on the fly. Top SaaS Products for Startups As we’ve continued to mention, SaaS products and companies have exploded over the last few decades. Because of this, there are thousands of SaaS solutions to help common business problems. Learn more about some of the top and most popular SaaS products below: Team collaboration As more tools move to the internet, being able to collaborate with colleagues is a must. Team members need a place where they can comment, plan, and collaborate on ongoing projects. Team collaboration tools can be fully dedicated or built into existing tools (e.g. leaving comments on a Google Doc). Learn more about some of the popular team collaboration tools and resources below: Google Drive Notion Slack Project Management Going hand in hand with team collaboration tools are project management tools. Project management tools stay on top of any ongoing projects within your team. These tools are incredibly valuable in every aspect of the business building but especially when it comes to marketing and product teams. Marketing teams can use project management tools to stay on top of their marketing campaigns and efforts — for example, tracking everything from initial copy and inspiration to performance and tweaks. For product teams, project management is extremely important because it keeps the team on the same page throughout the development process. Learn more about some of the most popular project management tools below: Basecamp Notion Asana Marketing and social media A marketing and social media tool is table stakes for most startups. Email marketing, blogs, videos, social media, etc. make up most modern-day marketing tools. Having a place to manage and publish your different marketing efforts is a must. There are some tools that cover every aspect of marketing. On the other hand, there are dedicated tools that will help in specific areas of marketing (e.g. Buffer for social media posting). Learn more about popular marketing and social media tools below: HubSpot Sprout Social Buffer Hoot Suite Accounting Accounting and bookkeeping is another area that has been improved by software products. Accounting tools allow individuals that might not be an expert in accounting to get a good understanding of their financials. On the other hand, accounting tools can also be built out and robust enough for finance professionals. Learn more about popular accounting software below: Xero Quickbooks Online FreshBooks Customer Service As your company grows staying on top of your customer service is a must. Luckily there are hundreds of software tools dedicated to helping with customer service. Like marketing tools, there are some that will cover every aspect of customer service. There are also dedicated tools that will help with different aspects of your customer success efforts — e.g. knowledge base, email support, etc. Learn more about popular customer service tools below: Intercom HubSpot Front Customer relationship management Customer relationship management (or CRM) has turned into a must for most startups. CRMs are the hubs for managing communication and progress with current and potential investors. Customer relationship management tools generally offer add-ons and additional features that will help with other areas of your business. This can be helpful when it comes to cutting costs and finding a simple solution for your employees. Related Resource: 7 Essential Business Startup Resources Learn more about popular CRMs below: Salesforce HubSpot Pipedrive Content management system As software and tools have moved to the internet so have most businesses in general. Even if a business does not sell to customers directly via the internet, chances are they have a website. Having a place to manage your website and the content you are producing is a must. Content management systems (CMS) have become table stakes for any business that has a website and produces any level of content. Learn more about popular content management systems below: WordPress Webflow Contentful Human resources management As a startup founder, it is vital to stay on top of your employees and team members. Startups are in constant competition for both capital and talent. It is crucial to have a human resources management system in place to keep employees happy and supportive. Learn more about popular HR resources below: Gusto Zenefits Lattice Payroll and benefits As we mentioned above, startups need a system to engage with their employees. One of the aspects of successful employee onboarding is having tools in place to help with payroll and managing benefits. As SaaS payroll and benefits tools have become increasingly common, the options are countless. Learn more about popular payroll and benefits tools below: Gusto Zenefits Onpay Investor relationship management Startups are in constant competition for 2 resources — capital and talent. Having a game plan in place to attract both is vital. If you’re a startup that has taken on outside funding it is important to have a game plan in place to report and communicate with your investors. This will not only improve your odds of raising follow-on funding but will allow you to lean on investors for help with hiring, strategy, and more. Investor relationships and communication are our bread and butter at Visible. Related Resources: The Understandable Guide to Startup Funding Stages Valuing Startups: 10 Popular Methods 23 Top VC Investors Actively Funding SaaS Startups Boost your startup’s investor relations with Visible Adopting SaaS tools for your startup is a surefire way to build efficiency around every aspect of your business. In order to best tap into your investors, you need a tool in place to communicate and report to your investors. Give Visible a try to up your investor relations. Raise capital, update investors and engage your team from a single platform. Try Visible free for 14 days.

About Trey Trey Closson is the CEO and Founder of Amplio — a platform for proactively identifying the risks of tomorrow’s supply chain. Prior to starting Amplio, Trey spent time at Flexport and Georgia Pacific. Trey joins us to break down his first year as a founder and what he has learned from transitioning from operator to founder. Episode Takeaways A couple of key topics we hit on: The current state of the global supply chain issues How Amplio found their first customers How Amplio is using pilot programs to scale their customer base The importance of relentless focus Why founders should invest in community Why building a startup is a marathon, not a sprint Watch the Episode Give episode 6 a listen below (or give it a listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you normally consume podcasts)

Startups and founders are faced with countless challenges and decisions on a daily basis. Many might be small challenges that can be solved personally but there are always larger decisions and challenges looming that require the help of a lawyer or law firm. In order to better help you choose the right law firm for your startup, we put together some tips, advice, and a few actual firms dedicated to helping startups below. As always, we recommend speaking with your peers, mentors, board members, general counsel, and others when making the decision to bring on a contractor, partner, or law firm. Why It’s Important to Be Selective About Your Law Firm Unfortunately, there is more to building startups than building a product and taking it to market. Along the way, there are events, situations, and decisions filled with legalese that requires the help of a lawyer or law firm. While it might be tempting to get going with the first law firm you speak with, they ultimately will be a partner to your business and should require some selectivity. So what areas will you likely need a hand with from your future law firm? As always, we recommend speaking with your peers, mentors, board members, general counsel, and others when making the decision to bring on a contractor, partner, or law firm. 1. Incorporation Incorporating your startup is an early step in the startup journey. As put at the team at Startup Savant, “Incorporating your startup means establishing your business as a formal legal entity, separate from its founders or owners.” To help with this legal process, you’ll want to make sure you have legal representation to help throughout the process. As written by the team at Contracts Counsel, “A partnership agreement lawyer assists members of a partnership to decide on a business structure through drafting a legal document. Partnership agreement lawyers essentially help businesses craft partnership agreements that reflect the relationship.” 2. Partnership agreements Another early technicality of building a startup is the partnerships and agreements that come with it. 3. Employment Issues Inevitably throughout the life of building a business, employment issues will arise. In order to make sure everyone involved is covered it might make sense to bring in legal help. 4. Protecting your Idea Law firms are also a great way to protect any original ideas or products. This can include trademarks, patents, copyright protection, and more. 5. Protecting your Brand’s Identity Going hand in hand with protecting ideas is protecting your brand’s identity. As the team at HG.org puts it, “Another manner of protecting the ideas of the creator is through a trademark. These may be but are not required to be registered through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. There are benefits when this is completed, but the trademark itself protects the image or brand of a company or owner.” 6. Generating Website Documents and Dealing with Data Privacy Issues As internet regulation continues to change and mature so do the documents and data that deal with privacy issues. As companies have been impacted by GDPR, legal documentation and privacy issues are a standard. Lawyers are a great source to help here. 7. Issuing Stock to Co-Founders When working with cap tables and issuing stock and stock options to co-founders and employees, seeking a lawyer’s help is inevitable. Related Resource: Employee Stock Options Guide for Startups 8. Complying with SEC Regulations When working in the US, startups, and companies are subject to regulations from the SEC. Working with a law firm can be a great source to make sure you are compliant. Related Resource: 6 Components of a VC Startup Term Sheet (Template Included) 9. Financing your Business There is a growing interest amongst law firms to invest in their clients. This has the chance to help fuel growth for your business but can also change the relationship with your law firm. What to Look for In A Startup Law Firm When it comes down to looking for your specific law firm there are certainly questions and thoughts to keep in mind. Before even taking a meeting with a potential law firm, ask yourself the following questions. While you might not be able to answer them fully before speaking with them, you should have a strong understanding and can spend your time meeting with them to focus on the fine details. As always, we recommend speaking with your peers, mentors, board members, general counsel, and others when making the decision to bring on a contractor, partner, or law firm. Do they have startup experience? There are countless types of law firms that all specialize in different areas. Even within business, there are law firms that will hone in on different aspects. Make sure you are communicating and working with law firms that understand the mechanics of startups and have done it before. What does their scope of work look like? Working with a law firm is another relationship and partner for you and your business to take on. Be sure you understand how they communicate, their standards, and more before hiring a firm. Talking to current and past clients of theirs is a great way to verify their scope of work. Do they have valuable startup connections? If you are hiring a law firm that specializes in the startup world, chances are they have connections to other startups and partners in the space. Determine their willingness to make connections and consider if that is something you are looking for in a law firm. Is the cost in-line with your budget? Simply put, are they affordable? Law firms come in all shapes and sizes. It can be a considerable expense for your business so make sure they align with your budget and goals. Do you share similar values and/or culture? As we’ve alluded to previously, adding a law firm is adding a partner to your business. Making sure there is a chemistry and match in your values/culture is a great way to ensure a strong relationship. Related Resource: A User-Friendly Guide to Startup Accounting Great Startup Law Firms to Consider As always, we recommend speaking with your peers, mentors, board members, and others when making the decision to bring on a contractor, partner, or law firm. However, we have laid out a few law firms below that specialize in working with startups: Cooley Cooley is a startup-focused law firm based out of Palo Alto. As the team at Firsthand puts it, “The go-to firm for startups and early-stage companies, Cooley is ideal for those seeking cutting-edge work with innovative clients. The firm has a highly social culture that will no doubt appeal to affable personalities and boasts a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. With more than 1,200 lawyers practicing across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, Cooley is synonymous with tech and venture capital work. The firm is also well regarded for its cleantech, cyber/data/privacy, IP, M&A, private equity, and securities practices.” Learn more here. Related Resource: Private Equity vs Venture Capital: Critical Differences Fenwick Fenwick has offices across the United States and has built a name for itself by working with high-profile technology companies and startups. Fenwick features a startup resources section on their website and takes a founder’s first approach. Learn more here. Gunderson Dettmer As put by the team at NYC Founder Guide, “Six years in a row, Pitchbook has ranked this firm #1 for high-growth technology and life sciences companies and investors globally. With a singular focus on startups and emerging companies, they are recognized as one of the most active law firms in the VC market, and in 2019, they closed $18+ billion of venture capital private financings. Startups they’ve worked with include Harry’s, Vimeo, Skillshare, and Oscar.” Learn more here. Goodwin From their website, “We are a global law firm with a history of working on groundbreaking matters, and an increasingly focused approach to working with clients in the financial, private equity, real estate, technology and life sciences industries. Our more than 1,800 corporate and litigation lawyers leverage their specific experience and assemble full-service teams to advise clients in these and adjacent industries.” Learn more here. Keep Investors Up-To-Date with Visible Getting in the habit of sending monthly investor updates is a surefire way to help with fundraising, hiring, and growing. To get started, pick a template from our library and tailor it to your business. Just remember that at the end of the day, sending anything is better than sending nothing at all. Visible allows founders to update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital all from one platform. Try Visible for free to send your next investor update.

About Matt & Zach Matt Achariam and Zach Hamed are the Co-founders of Clay. Clay is a beautiful and private home for all your relationships. Populated from the ground up using your calendar and social history, Clay is the most stunning, powerful way to remember who you’ve met—and what matters to them. Episode Takeaways Matt and Zach joined us for season 3 of the Founders Forward Podcast to share their stories. Clay has scaled rapidly and has raised capital from the likes of Forerunner Ventures and General Catalyst. They join us to break down: How they acquired their first customers Why they manually onboarded their first users Why they focus on the problem to better build product Why founders should stop overthinking outreach The importance of empathy in the startup world Why you should compliment more people A relationship-based approach to fundraising Related Resource: Investor Outreach Strategy: 9 Step Guide Watch the Episode Give episode 3 a listen below (or give it a listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you normally consume podcasts)

About Yaw Yaw Aning is the CEO and Founder of Malomo. Malomo is a shipment tracking platform that helps eCommerce brands turn order tracking from a cost center into a profitable marketing channel. Episode Takeaways Yaw joined us for season 3, episode 2 of our Founders Forward Podcast to dive into his career as a founder. He started his career in consulting which eventually led him to founding Malomo. Since founding Malomo, the team has rapidly grown and they’ve raised $8M+. Before ever thinking about funding, Yaw and the team had to determine what problems they were going to solve and did everything in their power to find their first customers. Yaw joins us to break down: How Malomo found their first customers The importance of finding a co-founder How and why you need to solve customer’s problems How Yaw found his co-founder The importance of being able to shut down How to prioritize time Watch the Episode Give episode 2 with Yaw Aning a listen below (or give it a listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you normally consume podcasts) The Founders Forward is Produced by Visible Our platforms helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days.

Hiring and attracting top talent is a major responsibility of any startup founder. In order to compete with large corporations, startups oftentimes have to get creative to attract top talent. One of the top benefits a startup can offer is employee stock options. This gives an employee potential upside and ultimately aligns both parties. There are two major forms of stock options — NSOs (non-qualified stock options) and ISOs (qualified incentive stock options). How do you know what type of stock options to use for your company? Check out our breakdown of both ISOs and NSOs below: Note: We always recommend seeking advice from lawyers or councils when working with your equity. What Are Qualified Incentive Stock Options or ISOs? As put by the team at Investopedia, “An incentive stock option (ISO) is a corporate benefit that gives an employee the right to buy shares of company stock at a discounted price with the added benefit of possible tax breaks on the profit. The profit on qualified ISOs is usually taxed at the capital gains rate, not the higher rate for ordinary income. Non-qualified stock options (NSOs) are taxed as ordinary income.” The main difference between ISOs and NSOs are the tax structure and possible benefits. Traditionally, ISOs are awarded to high-value employees. How Are ISOs Taxed? As mentioned above, ISOs are taxed at the capital gains rate. This means that ISO holders are subject to tax benefits as the capital gains rate is generally lower than the ordinary income rate. It is worth noting that ISOs are taxed at the time of selling the stock (not when vesting or exercising). When an employee (or person) is granted sock options there is a strike price (which is the value at the time of granting). Once an employee decides to exercise their options, they have the ability to sell their stock or hold on to the stock. If the same person sells their stock at (the fair market value) at a later date the difference between the strike price and fair market value is the profit — or what the employee is taxed on. Check out the long-term capital gains tax rates in 2022 (for the US) below: Learn more about other tax implications and the alternative minimum tax (AMT) in our next section. The Impact AMT Has on ISOs According to the IRS, “The alternative minimum tax (AMT) applies to taxpayers with high economic income by setting a limit on those benefits. It helps to ensure that those taxpayers pay at least a minimum amount of tax.” So what does this mean for ISOs? While very rare and generally reserved for high-earning individuals, the AMT can be triggered if the profile from selling ISOs is large enough. This means that the stock seller will be subject to more taxes and negate some of the benefits of an ISO. What Are Non-Qualified Stock Options or NSOs On the flip side are non-qualified stock options (NSOs). As put by the team at Investopedia, “A non-qualified stock option (NSO) is a type of employee stock option wherein you pay ordinary income tax on the difference between the grant price and the price at which you exercise the option.” NSOs are generally more common than ISOs. While they might not have the tax benefits of ISOs, NSOs are generally more common than ISOs and offer their own benefits. It is worth noting that NSOs can be granted to non-employees as well (board members, advisors, mentors, customers, etc.) Learn more about NSOs and their tax structure below: How Are NSOs Taxed? The main difference between NSOs and ISOs comes down to how they are taxed. If you recall, ISOs are only taxed at the capital gains tax when they are sold. NSOs can potentially be taxed on two occasions. To start, NSOs are taxed when the stock options are initially exercised. If/when someone decides to exercise their NSOs they will pay a tax on the difference between the fair market value and the strike price. Next, NSOs are taxed when someone sells the actual stock — similar to ISOs. Depending on how long someone holds their stock between the time they exercise it and sell it, will determine if they pay short term or long term capital gains tax. The Impact AMT has on NSOs As we mentioned earlier, an alternative tax minimum (AMT) is a potential downside of ISOs. Unlike their counterpart, NSOs are not subject to AMT. ISO vs NSO Which One is Right For You? Now that we understand the difference between qualified incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified incentive stock options (NSOs) it is time to understand how and when you should be using both. Both have expected use cases and their own set of pros and cons depending on the use. Related Reading: How to Fairly Split Startup Equity with Founders When to Choose an ISO Of course, most employees will likely want an ISO plan as it offers tax benefits. However, it is lesser used and should be reserved for high-value employees. As the team at Investopedia writes, “This type of employee stock purchase plan is intended to retain key employees or managers.” A few times for when you should choose a qualified incentive stock option for your employees: When offering stock options for an employee (ISOs are not eligible with individuals who are not employees) When trying to incentivize and retain a high-value employee — this might be a manager or executive that is closely aligned with your companies success. When your company is in a financial position to offer ISOs instead of NSOs When to Choose an NSO While they do not necessarily have the tax benefits of ISOs, NSOs are widely used and are more common than ISOs. Below are a few examples and pros of choosing an NSO instead of an ISO: When issuing stock options to non-employees. This could be consultants, board members, mentors, and more. From the team at Pasquesi Partners, “With NSO, companies are able to take tax deductions when the employee chooses to exercise their option in the stock. Because of the way they are structured, NSO earnings are viewed as income for the employee, hence the tax deductions.” When looking for a more simple option and straightforward stock option to offer employees Share Stock Option Information With Your Investors with Visible No matter how you structure your cap table and share equity with investors, employees, and more, it is important to be straightforward and transparent the entire time. Want to improve your investor reporting and communication? Let us help. Raise capital, update investors and engage your team from a single platform. Try Visible free for 14 days.

We surveyed founders in our community and asked, “How likely are you to refer your current lead investor(s) to fellow founders?” (AKA — NPS score). The results were shocking with an NPS score of 23. An NPS score of 23 falls below the average for the airline industry. Not a great industry to be compared to in terms of customer satisfaction scores. As the venture space continues to grow and mature, the importance of investor’s adding value and opportunities is higher than ever. In order to better help investors support their portfolio (and hopefully move that NPS score up) we’ve put together 3 tips below: Systemize your data collection As Peter Drucker put it, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” In order to best help the founders in your portfolio, you need to have a system in place to collect data, quantitative and qualitative, so you can jump in and help when needed. Setting up a system requires a fine balance between being beneficial for your fund and being efficient and easy on the founder. With that said, it is important you only collect what is absolutely necessary (for founders who are already taking the time to send investor updates you want to make sure they are not duplicating efforts). What we suggest requesting from a founder to start: With Visible for Investors, founders can fill out simple Update Requests from their investors (like the example above) and use their data to fuel future investor Updates. Learn more about Visible for Investors here. Take action on the data Collecting portfolio company data is only half the battle. Once you have the data in hand (qualitative or quantitative) you need to make sure you are closing the loop. Keep an eye on qualitative data As we displayed in our example request above, best-in-class investors are specifically requesting a “Where can we help/problems” section. Being sure you can track and manage this data over time will improve your ability to take action. By setting up a view in Visible or exporting answered requests, you can keep your eye on where your companies stand and where your help is needed. Metric alerts and benchmarking When collecting metrics and data from your companies on a recurring basis, you’ll be able to uncover trends for individual companies and your portfolio as a whole. If you notice a core metric for a specific company is slipping month over month, it might be a good time to intervene and see if they need a hand to tackle a problem. Fundraising and Introductions Startups are in constant competition for 2 resources — capital and talent. As an investor, you will oftentimes see founders need help with 1 (or both) of those 2 areas. Being able to make an introduction to a potential investor or new hire can have a huge impact on a startup’s growth. Being able to open up your rolodex will be a huge win in the eyes of your founders. On the flip side, you can use the data from your portfolio as a whole to help benchmark and uncover new trends to the rest of your portfolio. For example, if you see a go-to-market strategy picking up steam with a few companies, it can be a good time to introduce the ideas to other companies that might benefit from the strategy. Learn more about how you can use Visible for Investors to better support your portfolio companies here. Make the most of it Setting up a system to collect data from your portfolio companies is no easy feat so you’ll want to make sure you are getting the most value out of the data as possible. Outside of helping your portfolio companies, you do have your own set of investors you need to report to. Having a strong system to collect portfolio data is a natural backbone to power your next LP report. Building strong rapport with your LPs is a surefire way to make sure your next fundraise goes smoothly. Using Visible, you can roll up your data and use Updates to report to your LPs. No exporting or additional data needed. Simply take the data from your portfolio, add in any necessary fund/investment data, and keep your LPs in the loop. Check out an example report here. Check out more LP update templates here. Learn more about using Visible for Investors to report with your LPs here. Stay engaged with your founders right from your pocket. Monitor your portfolio and be the value-add investor you want to be with Visible for Investors. Schedule a demo to learn more here.

On episode 7 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Kristian Andersen. Kristian is a founder and partner at High Alpha, a venture studio located in Indianapolis. About Kristian Before launching High Alpha, Kristian founded the prolific design agency, Studio Science. During his time at Studio Science, Kristian primarily served software companies which ultimately led to him being a founding partner at High Alpha. Between Kristian’s experience at Studio Science and his time at High Alpha helping launch 30+ companies, it is safe to say he knows a thing or 2 about design and storytelling. Kristian joins us to break down how design can be a competitive advantage, the importance of storytelling in business, the High Alpha Studio model, and much more. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Kristian. You can give the full episode a listen below: What You Can Expect to Learn from Kristian: How the High Alpha Studio models work What kind of co-founders they look for at High Alpha How design can be a competitive advantage Why storytelling is important in business and fundraising Why Coco Chanel, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ralph Lauren are great storytellers What he likes to see in a cold email from a founder Related Resources: Kristian’s Twitter Kristian’s website Apply to become a High Alpha Co-founder High Alpha’s Visible Connect Profile

If you’re working in Venture Capital or are fundraising from VC’s, the odds that you’ve experienced a lack of diversity in race, gender, and as a result ideas, is very high. According to a survey by Richard Kerby at Equal Ventures, the VC industry is comprised of 58% white men, followed by 20% Asian men, 11% white women, 6% Asian women, 2% Black men, and 1% Black women, 1% Latinx men, and nearly 0% are Latinx women. And when you consider “who controls venture capital dollars”, in other words, “who gets the bulk of the carried interest, salary… and ultimate control over which startups get funded”, it’s 93% white males. (Source) Source: James L. Knight Foundation; data extrapolated from Figure 41 based on Preqin’s data set, which defines venture capital as a subset of private equityH VENTURE PARTNERS Meanwhile, a report by McKinsey and Company shows that diverse working environments financially outperform homogenous workforces by as much as 35 percent. The Venture Capital industry is missing out on diversity of people, ideas, ventures, and ultimately higher returns. If you’re interested in helping improve diversity at your VC fund, check out these resources to start taking actionable steps forward. 1) Increase Your Individual Knowledge about Diversity and Inclusion It’s important to remember to take ownership of your diversity and inclusion education process rather than burdening minority groups with the responsibility of teaching you or correcting you. You can start by checking out this curated list of relevant articles on diversity and inclusion for both founders and funders. The list also includes a list of organizations you can work with to help improve diversity and inclusion including Parity.org, NVCA VentureForward, and Project Include. These resources are curated by Founders for Change, a group of inspiring founders who are dedicated to diversity and inclusion within their companies, and desire greater diversity at the highest levels of VC firms. Learn more about Founders for Change here. 2) Encourage Your Fund to Take Part in the Diversity VC Standard Program & Certification The Diversity VC Standard program is a great way to strategically set diversity goals for your fund while also increasing the knowledge of D&I practices for your whole team. It was started in 2020 and pioneered by 15 leading funds across Europe and Canada. The certification sends signals to the rest of the ecosystem that your fund follows the best D&I practices. The program walks VC’s through three stages: Assessment – A guided run through of your fund’s current policies and practices Consultation – Curated advice and recommendations on next steps according to fund targets Certification – To Level 1 (setting a benchmark above industry average) or Level 2 (leading the way on changes to D&I policy) For more information about Diversity VC follow this link. 3) Broaden Sources of Dealflow Beyond Traditional Channels While cold outreach does sometimes work, most deals are funded through a warm introduction from someone in your network. For this reason, it’s a good idea to reflect on who comprises your network and decide if you need to branch out. Some advice from Sarah Millar, Principal at City Light VC and head of Diversity VC’s US Chapter — Be intentional about building relationships with funds that focus on diverse founders and leverage those to grow your own networks. Setting up regular catch-ups, co-investing in their deals, and sharing deals is always what works in VC – so being intentional about who you do it with and what their focus areas are is going to pay dividends. Harlem Capital has put together a thorough database of diverse investors that is a great starting point. You can also broaden your dealflow sources by checking out these resources: Crunchbase’s Diversity Spotlight, the Black Founder List, Latinx Founders Collective, Female Founded Club. 4) Guide Portfolio Companies on How to Build an Inclusive Culture As a VC, you’re oftentimes in a position to influence your portfolio companies as they grow. Get informed about what makes a diverse and inclusive culture so you can guide your portfolio companies as they build their teams. A great place to learn about inclusive cultures is by checking out the resources put together by Project Include. The non-profits mission is to give everyone a fair chance to succeed in tech by using data and advocacy to accelerate diversity and inclusion solutions. Project Include has even curated recommendations on each step in the process of building an inclusive culture, including how to lead as a VC. Leading the change to improve diversity at your VC fund may not be easy but we hope these resources serve as a source of motivation and encouragement. 5) Explore Diverse Networks when Making your next Fund Hire When looking to add talent to your VC firm, start by exploring organizations on a mission to increase diversity in Venture Capital. Vencapital is empowering the next generation of investors by providing training programs catered specifically towards women and minorities looking for entry-level roles in VC. Chicago:Blend is on a mission to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Chicago’s venture capital and startup community. They publish annual diversity data, help underrepresented and overlooked professionals break into VC, and deploy necessary DEI resources to the community. You may also like How to Hire for your First VC Platform Role. Do you have suggestions for other steps or resources you think we should include? Let us know!

On episode 6, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Corinne Riley. Corinne is an investor at the prolific venture capital firm, Greylock, where she primarily invests in B2B companies. About Corinne Over the course of her career, Corinne has built a knack for helping companies build and develop a go-to-market motion. Corinne has extensive knowledge of community-led growth and helping companies grow at the earliest stages of their business. Corinne joins the show to break down community-led companies and the thought process behind her investment decision-making. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Corinne. You can give the full episode a listen below: What You Can Expect to Learn from Corinne What a community-led company is How community-led growth can be a moat What the community commitment curve is What changes between a seed and series A pitch What data she would expect to see in a Series A company What she likes to see in a cold email from a founder Related Resources Corinne’s Twitter Common Room & Uncommon Corinne’s post on Community-Led Growth The Business of Belonging Greylocks’s Visible Connect Profile

You may be interested in better defining your VC Platform approach because you’re thinking about hiring for your first Platform role or you want to strategically determine where to allocate more resources to improve your post-investment support. Whatever the reason, it’s a worthy investment of your time because your VC Platform can help set you apart from other investors in a competitive deal flow environment. Despite the importance of the topic, not very many frameworks exist to help investment teams and Platform teams figure out how to improve the support they’re providing startups. This article highlights the TOPSCAN method and serves as a useful tool to take a wide lens view at the needs and resources that already exist within your portfolio today. What is the TOPSCAN Method for Startup Support? The TOPSCAN method for supporting startups is a hidden gem of a framework first outlined in 2013 in The Journal of Private Equity. It was designed to help investors improve their operational support of startups. The framework includes seven key management techniques as outlined below: Using this framework, and the exercise outlined below, you can strategically determine the areas of support that will deliver the most value to your companies and reap the most return for the investment of your VC Platform’s time and non-capital resources. Using TOPSCAN to Identify your VC Platform Positioning The objectives of VC Platforms are all about formalizing the post-investment support processes and making them repeatable and reliable. Therefore, you want to make sure you’re scaling your most impactful areas of support. To discover which areas of support are going to be the most valuable to scale from both your portfolio’s and your fund’s perspective, you should be thinking about where portfolio needs, available resources, and VC brand strategy align. To do this, consider using this VC Platform Positioning Exercise template as a guide. VC Platform Positioning Exercise Portfolio Needs To get started, navigate to the Portfolio Needs column on the VC Platform Positioning Exercise. Here you’ll begin to answer the question What is the most impactful support you could be providing your companies? The exercise starts with this column because it is absolutely critical to have a finger on the pulse of what is top of mind for your portfolio companies. Just as you would never advise one of your portfolio companies to build a product without first understanding their customer, you need to understand your portfolio companies (read: customers) before you start building out your VC Platform approach. To do this, you could consider: Sending out a survey; Using Visible.vc’s Request feature to streamline the collection of qualitative responses; Or Scheduling a check in call with your founders during which you ask ‘what is the most impactful way we can support you’* *If you don’t have strong relationships with companies already in place, start by setting up informal check in calls to build rapport instead of a survey. Document the trends you see emerging across the portfolio using the TOPSCAN categories of support which are included in the VC Platform Positioning Exercise. You’ll also want to assign a weight to each category according to the level of demand or need. Portfolio Needs Example: Available Resources Next, review and consider which resources for company support already exist at your firm. Your goal should be to answer the question What resources do we have internally and/or how could we source these externally? Start mapping out these resources by the TOPSCAN category they’re related to. Take into account which resources your VC Fund has internally versus where it could make sense to partner with a service provider. Assign a weight related to how available the resources already are within your firm. For example, your portfolio may need help with recruiting but you don’t have resources on staff to support this. In this case, you may consider whether there is a budget to adopt a software or form a partnership to provide this type of support to your companies. Available Resources Example: Brand Strategy And finally, it’s important to keep in mind your fund’s brand positioning to make sure the resources you’re allocating align with your brand. In this section you’re answering What do we want to be known for? As Jay Acunzo from NextView Ventures notes “platform only works when you’re known for something.” Brainstorm within your team until you’ve clarified what it is you want to be known for. Do you want to be known for data-driven decision making? Or maybe you want to be known for identifying and investing in diverse teams. Denote this in the ‘Brand Strategy’ section of the exercise and again assign a weight to each category as you fill them out. Brand Strategy Example: Once you’ve completed the VC Platform Positioning Exercise, begin looking for overlaps in portfolio needs, available resources, and brand strategy. The areas in which you identify the most alignment should form the basis of your VC Platform approach. And as Peter Drucker once said, “You cannot manage what you don’t measure”. Be sure to set up KPI’s for your newly defined VC Platform approach so you can measure, analyze, and iterate as needed to refine your approach overtime. And with building anything new, keep in close communication with your ‘customers’ so you’re confident you’re building something of value. Other VC Platform articles we love: Paths into Venture Capital – Decoding the Platform Role Director of Platform, what does that mean? Why VCs are investing in Platforms to Compete Are Newly Formed Roles In VC Firms Differentiators, Table Stakes Or Total BS?

On episode 5, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Ezra Galston. Ezra is the founder and partner at Starting Line, a consumer-focused VC fund located in Chicago. About Ezra As someone who has faced the ups and downs of being a founder (plus the stresses of fundraising), Ezra and the team at Starting Line has made mental health a focus. Every founder in the Starting Line portfolio receives a subsidy for “their first three sessions of therapy, executive coaching, or co-founder counseling (up to $200 each).” Ezra joins the Founders Forward to break down fundraising, founder health, and the consumer market/what excites the team at Starting Line. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Ezra. You can give the full episode a listen below: What You Can Expect to Learn from Ezra How a founder and board’s focus changes from early stages to later stage How venture fundraising differs for the “haves” and “have nots” How Ezra’s experiencing raising capital has impacted how he views fundraising Why Starting Line has a focus on their portfolio founder’s mental health How Starting Line subsidizes mental health sessions Why fundraising is a relationship-based activity Why he likes plenty of context before a meeting with a founder Related Resources Ezra’s Twitter The Starting Line Operating Manual Starting Line’s Visible Connect Profile

What a Board of Directors Does Even with great executives, a great product, and a great team, the success of a new startup can be determined by its Board of Directors. Choosing a Board of Directors is a critical process. The Board of Directors for your venture are the strategic advisors or final votes in major decisions and changes. With the right Board in place, a company can accelerate and take the right strategic steps to a favorable exit or IPO. Building a Board of Directors is a crucial process and one that should be done deliberately and strategically. Decisions about the type of board your company needs, the types of board members and how they will strategically work together, and planning ahead for potential board obstacles and stumbling points are all aspects to consider when building a Board of Directors that will actually help your company grow. What a Board of Directors Does At the highest level, a Board of Directors provides some type of strategic advisory and decision making for a company. In some cases, and for some types of boards, this decision-making could be fiscal and provide the board members the electoral power to make changes above the company’s executives. In other cases, it can be purely strategic, with no formal and final power but rather to serve as a collective of experience and guidance as the company grows and evolves over time. In general, a Board of Directors serves as a voting or advisory body of appointed or elected leaders that help make decisions for a company. There are nuances and three primary types of Boards of Directors. The Different Types of Boards Board of Directors A Board of Directors is made up of appointed members typically representing from inside the company and outside the company. Board of Director members are experts in their field, fields relating to company leadership or aligned strategically with what a company does or what industry they serve. A Board of Directors may serve in an advisory role or a fiduciary role or both. These two types of boards are most common. Inside company representation may include leaders of the executive board and even the CEO of the company. Outside appointees vary depending on the type of Board of Directors. The type of board of directors can also influence how a specific board meeting is run. Check out our guide on How to Run a Board Meeting to learn more about the various meeting flows. Advisory Board The main differentiator of an advisory board is that its decisions are non-binding and more informal in nature. Just as the name suggests, Advisory Boards are composed of appointed experts that provide advice and help a company with forward-thinking decisions such as custom acquisition, go-to-market strategy, category tactics, pricing, or even acquisition decisions. Advisory Board cannot force a CEO or executive team to take any action. They are also not appointed to represent any specific interests, rather composed of folks that are experts in their field or have strong track records of scaling great businesses. Sometimes, in exchange for an Advisory Board seat and contributing their time and help to a company, the stock is given as part of the “payment” for serving in an Advisory Board role. This also ties the advisory board member to the company’s long-term success. In general, Advisory Boards do not assume any liability or responsibility legally from company decisions and outcomes. Fiduciary Board First and foremost, Fiduciary Boards are made up of an equal representation of all the shareholders, not just majority owners. Public companies are required to have Fiduciary Boards but Private companies are not. Fiduciary Boards are tasked with ensuring that the company is making decisions that are fiscally beneficial to its shareholders. Because of this heavy responsibility and oversight, Fiduciary Boards are given the voting rights to overrule the CEO’s decisions. Members of a Fiduciary Board are appointed by each party they represent. Often, when a big funding round takes place, the leading investor of that round will appoint a partner to sit on the Board of Directors at the company – earning a board seat as part of their investment to represent their fiduciary interests. Inside the company members are present as well including the CEO and possibly another C-level executive. The Different Types of Board Members Not only are there different kinds of Boards of Directors, there are also a variety of different types of board members that make up said boards. Management Board Members Internal representatives on a Board of Directors from the company are referred to as management board members. Management board members are direct representatives from the day-to-day of the company, often the CEO, COO or another executive leader. They provide the frontline perspective into the discussions and decision-making for the board and are often responsible for running the agenda and managing the flow of information out to the rest of the board members. Investor Board Members Often, when a VC firm or PE firm makes an investment into a company’s funding round, they are granted representation with a board seat. Investors that join your board at different stages of a company’s growth may have different perspectives or rationale around upholding specific decisions or fiduciary responsibility. It’s critical that you spend the time onboarding not only the board seat holder, but your broader team of new investors after every round. Independent Directors Knowing that management members and investor members both have direct ties to the success of the company and are personally tied financially to the outcomes decided on by a board, independent directors provide an air of checks and balances to the table. Independent directors are qualified individuals that have no affiliation or tie to the company. They may be business leaders or industry experts and are there as a 3rd party, non-bias advisors to the business. How To Build a Strong Board of Directors Now knowing that there are various types of a Board of Directors and various members that make up those ranks, the decision-making process begins to form the perfect board for your company’s needs and future. Choosing a Board Type First and foremost, if your company is public, a fiduciary board is required. However, if your company is private, you have the option to build a board with just advisory duties or to grant them fiduciary power as well. It’s important to consider why each function exists. Choosing an advisory board is smart for any founder to make sure their company building does not exist in an echo chamber, and insight and advice is considered early and often as the company scales. The more external funding you take and the more shareholders are present, fiduciary responsibility may make the most sense to protect the overall interests of the company and spread out the risk and legal responsibility amongst shareholders, not just on the executive leadership at the company. Deciding on a Board Size There is no mandatory set number of Board Members, and most range from 3 to 31 employees. Typically a board is always composed of an odd number to prevent tied votes. Analysts suggest that the ideal Board of Directors size is 7 members. Deciding on your Board size is up to you as a founder. Perhaps a smaller board is good to start with expansions being made as more investors come to the table, earning more seats, or as new problems or growth opportunities arise at the company that requires new expertise to be brought in. Establishing a Board Structure In addition to Board of Directors Size and Type, the structure of the board is critical to the success of the board. Having a clear, and defined structure that is agreed upon by members as they join ensures that board meetings are run smoothly and the purpose and goals of the board are clearly achieved. Structural elements of a board to consider include setting clear bylaws that outline member responsibilities and expectations, defined roles, and duties such as who will take minutes, who will report out, and who will run the meeting flow at each board meeting. Term limits are also something to consider, especially for a fiduciary board, to keep decision-making ethical and tied to the best interests of the shareholders. Additionally, check if your specific industry or board type has any industry or corporate governance rules that are needed to be abided by. Fill Knowledge and Skills Gaps When appointing new board members, or even just as you appoint the first few board members, consider what skills they bring to the table and how they can best aid your company’s success. If there are gaps that the current management team or founders of the company have, a board of directors can help fill knowledge and skills gaps. For example, if the founders of a company are technical, they may want to build an advisory board of directors with go-to-market experts, revenue leaders, and financial advisors to ensure that the business decisions are made in conjunction with the great product evolution or development taking place. On the flip side, if a company is expanding into a new industry or adding a product line, an expert in that product field or industry may be a crucial knowledge gap to fill with a board seat. Prioritize Diverse Perspectives The best way to make sure your business actually grows from implementing a board and making forward-thinking decisions as a board is to avoid an echo chamber. An echo chamber refers to the same ideas or thoughts being “Echoed” back many times over. Often, it’s easy to be drawn to like-minded leaders or partners you’ve worked within the past when selecting board members. However, think more about the qualities and traits and perspectives the management members or already selected members bring to the table. Then try and find a completely opposite perspective or experience (that still helps your business). Avoiding an echo chamber will ensure all perspectives and sides of an idea are considered when making a decision and avoid obvious mistakes that might be made if everyone can only see one direction clearly. Onboard Your Directors Plain and simple, onboard your Board of Directors. Just as you would likely build out a comprehensive onboarding plan for your new employees so they have everything they need to do their job, the Board of Directors are no different. Provide a detailed, comprehensive, and repeatable path for onboarding for your Directors. This will ensure everyone is on the same page and has a clear understanding of the “why” that brings them to the table for your company each and every day. Regularly Evaluate Your Board If the board type and structure is set, all your Directors are onboarded, and you have your Board up and running, don’t stop thinking about what your Board’s ideal state looks like. Make quarterly and annual evaluations a habit with your Board to ensure that all members are continuously able (and willing) to serve in their Board role at full capacity. This ensures that your Board remains a valuable part of your business’s strategy and success. Potential Obstacles to Your Board’s Success (and Solutions) Despite taking all the steps to build a strong Board of Directors, be aware of potential obstacles to your board’s success. Too many like-Minded Members When building your board, especially early on, the board may be small. Between management members and investor or industry expert appointees, you always run the risk of having too many like minded members on the board, preventing any real change or growth to be done. The best solution to avoiding this potential obstacles is to be really intentional when building your board to diversity the perspectives represented and to set clear term limits for your board. That way, even if after working to select members with diverse perspectives, there is a second safety net in place to ensure that after a set number of time, board members will be interchanged to bring in even more perspectives and prevent a like-minded board from forming. Conflicts of Interest Another common obstacle many Boards of Directors face is a conflict of interest among board members. This could be due to too much management representation on the board or possibly too many friends and family represented on the board as shareholders. A solution on the management side is to ensure there is a cap on how many management members are represented at any one time on the board. This limit will prevent the management perspective from taking over. Similarly, term limits, or voting rules around stakeholder involvement can help ensure that decisions are made fairly and not just in the interest of the individual board member. Let Visible Help A Board of Directors can be game-changing for your business and completely shape the strategic direction to take a company public or through other favorable business outcomes. Once your Board is up and running, it’s important to ensure communications to the Board are seamless and clear. Learn more about keeping your investors updated with Visible here.

On episode 4, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Tyler Tringas. Tyler is the founder and General Partner at Calm Company Fund (formerly Earnest Capital). The Calm Company Fund invests in exactly what it sounds like — “profitable, sustainable, calm businesses.” About Tyler and Calm Company Fund Tyler offers a unique perspective as someone who invests in companies that may not be the huge companies that a traditional venture capitalist eyes. He joins us to break down what exactly a “calm” business is, the current market dynamics that are creating more need for funders like Calm Company Fund, and much more. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Tyler. You can give the full episode a listen below: What You Can Expect to Learn from Tyler How companies in smaller markets can still be winners What a SEAL is and how Calm Fund uses them The market dynamics creating a need for more funding options like Calm Fund Why and how they raised crowdfunding How Calm Fund and Venture Capital can co-exist for startups How to best cold email investors Related Resources Tyler’s Twitter Calm Capital — What We Invest In Shared Earnings Agreement Our Original Sit Down with Tyler The Calm Fund Visible Connect Profile Bootstrapping 101: Pros & Cons of Bootstrapping Your Startup

Founding a company is no easy feat. From idea to execution, it can be almost impossible to get up and running as an actual, legitimate company and that’s just the beginning. Across all industries, 90% of startups fail and 10% of startups fail in the first year alone. The odds are stacked against you and only the bravest (and maybe craziest) folks choose the path of entrepreneurship and founding their own startup. Going this road is risky and daunting so often it makes sense to bring on additional support, a co-founder or multiple co-founders, to join in on the wild ride of launching and building a startup. However, it’s not always clear when bringing on a co-founder is right. Timing, needs, trajectory, bandwidth, and business outcomes should all be considered when thinking about what a co-founder could mean for your business’s success (or failure). So how do you know when you need a co-founder and how do you find the right one for your business? The Visible team has outlined 4 ways to find the perfect startup co-founder. How Do You Know if You Need a Co-Founder for Your Startup? There are no one-size-fits-all perfect way to run a startup. Some founders are successful on their own, hiring a great leadership team around them. Others make the choice to bring on a co-founder or group of co-founders early in the business. So how do you know if you need a co-founder for your startup? Consider two main categories, what stage your business is at and what your competencies are as a founder. Not every founder (or every business leader) is perfect at every task that a founder needs to learn. Some founders come to the table with a product and technical strength – the how and the possibility of what’s feasible with your new idea is clear in your mind. Other founders come to the table with business acumen – maybe they’ve founded a company before or lead a company in the c-suite through major milestones like fundraises, acquisitions, or even IPOs. Still, other founders excel in an area of expertise that their new tech startup fits into. For example, maybe a 20-year restaurant management vet wants to start a startup focused on restaurant tech. They bring industry knowledge and even some business acumen to the table, but are missing the technical and the startup funding knowledge that may be needed. Some founders choose to stay the course and work through the areas they aren’t experts in alone or with the guidance of trusted advisors. It is critical to go into your startup as a founder to understand your strengths and where you might be missing skills. Taking an assessment of personal strengths and areas of competency is a great way to decide if you need a co-founder. A co-founder with another set of skills or expertise can help round out your startup and increase your odds for succeeding right out of the gate. This can also be done with early hires, but there are some unique benefits that come with purposefully choosing someone to co-found a startup with you instead of just joining as an early team member. Check out why Yaw Aning, Founder of Malomo, believes it is important to find a co-founder below: Why You Should Consider a Co-Founder After you’ve identified that there are some core pieces of knowledge missing from your team as you move to found a startup, there are some key reasons why you should consider a co-founder to join the team instead of just making specifically skilled early hires. Commitment to the Vision With the ups and downs a startup can bring, commitment is critical for early team members. A co-founder is more bought into the vision of your startup than an early hire. They are tasked with helping to shape the vision, typically have the opportunity to grab major equity options, and have the responsibility of shouldering the success or failure. An early hire may be committed and you may even give them great stock options, but their ideas and direction aren’t shaping the business in the same foundational way. When things get tough, they can jump ship with a lot less hesitation. Understanding how startups go about splitting founder equity is important in understanding how committed a co-founder will be to your business. Move Fast Sharing the responsibility of the quick, high-stakes decisions that must be made while launching and growing a startup can help your team scale faster, saving time and money. Knowing you have a trusted partner to take ownership of parts of the business will allow more to get done simultaneously. For example, a technical founder can help lead the engineering and product decisions while a business-minded or CEO partner can focus on fundraising and scaling a GTM plan. It becomes much easier to move fast with multiple folks leading in lock-step. Get Unstuck As you move fast and scale your vision, roadblocks will pop up. A co-founder or multiple co-founders ensure that there are multiple folks with the same stake and commitment to the business ready to solve these challenges. Board members and investors (as you develop and bring on those partners) will have perspectives, advice, and even an ideal vision but a co-founder can help keep you focused and is a built-in, strong sounding board to move through the inevitable challenges that founders face. What to Look for In a Co-Founder Maybe you’ve thought about it and you do want to seek out a co-founder for your startup. But what exactly makes a good co-founder? Strong co-founders should have indispensable skills and experience, a complementary and collaborative mindset, and a clear vision and commitment to the company you’re planning to build. Skills and experience Reflecting back on identifying your own core competencies as a founder, whether you’re seeking out a co-founder with a very specific skill set or a complimentary one, looking for a co-founder with a background of skills and experience is key. In some cases, friends from college or young entrepreneurs are able to scale a successful business. But that is the exception, not the rule. In most cases, choosing a co-founder with skills and expertise in the competency area you are looking for, as a successful previous founder or business leader, or an impressive resume of wins and experience in the space your startup will play are good guidelines to follow in your search. Complementary and Collaborative Mindset Co-founders spend an unimaginable amount of time working together. Understand your working style and strengths and make sure you partner with a co-founder that you can work well with and who brings ideas and a drive to work together to the table. You might have the most skilled and experienced candidate on the table but if the energy between co-founders is off, the collaboration and execution just won’t get done or will be a very painful process to go through day after day. Commitment Is the person you’re considering bringing on as a co-founder a startup hopper? Are there weird gaps on their resume or unexplained reasons for exciting startups (outside of the reasons that startups fail 90% of the time)? Every founder is looking to be that 1 in 9. Best case, you take your startup all the way to a successful conclusion of acquisition or IPO. Looking for a co-founder with a track record and personality that can remain committed to the vision of your startup through all ups and downs is critical. Additionally, it’s important that any co-founder you take on has a passion and excitement for the problem you’re solving. The nitty-gritty will get stressful and even boring at times, but the commitment to growth and vision, what COULD be, will help any co-founder team preserve. 4 Ways to Find the Right Startup Co-Founder Take Advantage of Your Network Think about all the great networks and experiences you’ve been a part of in your career. From alumni networks at undergrad or business school to your LinkedIn connections, chances are someone in your circle knows someone looking to join the startup founder game too. Folks are always open to connecting with others so starting within the circles you feel comfortable with is a great place to start searching for a co-founder. Nobody knows you better than folks you’ve worked with or had personal experiences with. The perfect person may only be a degree or two connection away so put those feelers out in your network first. Network in Your Startups Industry Starting a company focused on the hospitality industry? Maybe the finance space? There are plenty of online groups on LinkedIn or on Slack as well as in-person associations and meetup groups that are industry-focused. Joining a few industry associations or networking calls can help you find a co-founder with the expertise and passion in your new industry space. Look for Advisors While it may not make sense to bring on a co-founder at the very beginning of your startup, start by bringing on a few trusted advisors and confidants to provide guidance and collaboration that a founder would. As you refine your work style and vision for the company, one of these advisors or collaborators could turn into a co-founder or after working with you, feel comfortable and excited referring to someone in their network to be considered for the partnership. Find Founder-Focused Communities In addition to networking in your personal circles and engaging with industry-focused events, there are many events specifically for founders. Some VCs and even top tech cities will host “founder speed dating” or “founder networking” events for current founders or past founders seeking to meet and build a network of collaborators and advisors or even as a place to meet others interested in founding a startup together. Conclusion All in all, outside of maybe how you choose to fund your startup, the decision to bring on a co-founder (or not!) is one of the most important decisions you will make in the early stage of a startup. It’s a decision that if executed correctly, can result in a great long-term partnership, allow for faster growth, and provide long-term success for your business. Start with our 4 ways to find the perfect startup founder and let us know how your startup journey goes. Happy founding!  Interested in learning more about the foundations of a startup and how to measure success from the very beginning? Chat with the Visible team here.