Finding the perfect co-founder for your climate startup

The right co-founder can make or break your climate business. It’s not like any other hire, and you can’t just post a job ad on LinkedIn. So much is riding on this pivotal relationship that it’s often compared to a marriage - so what does it take to find the right person?

Deepa Lounsbury is the CEO of LabStart, a nonprofit which unlocks climate innovations from premier research laboratories and helps entrepreneurs launch breakthrough startups. We sat down with her to discuss how you can begin a methodical co-founder search, qualities you should look for in a co-founder, why you should think twice about bringing on a friend, and how to structure a legal arrangement that minimizes conflicts.

Starting the search

Don’t rush into anything 
First and foremost, don’t “hire fast” when it comes to your co-founder.  You’re better off pushing through alone than taking on a co-founder who isn’t a good fit out of some sense of misplaced urgency. If you’re struggling in the interim, you can bring on hired help in other ways (fractional support, advisors, etc), and can also consider joining an incubator or accelerator to fill in gaps while you’re looking for that perfect “mate”.

Do some introspection first
You’re looking for a co-founder who also has superpowers - but that are different from yours. So, until you spend some time thinking long and hard about what you bring to the company, and what’s currently lacking, you won’t know what you’re looking for. 

This might be more complex than it seems on paper. Say you’re a technical co-founder coming out of a national lab, who’s lacking financial and business knowledge. You know you’ll need an operational co-founder - but what does that actually mean in practice? Do they need a sales or marketing background? Or would someone with a manufacturing or fundraising background be more important at this stage?  

Look for alignment 
Ask direct questions to get to know your potential cofounders, not just about where they want to go, but how they want to get there. Do they want to work 8-hour days, or willing to work 14-hour days? Are they motivated by impact, or by the idea of making money as quickly as possible? Do they want to run a venture-backed company, or build with slow and measured growth? 

Ideally, you should be on the same page in terms of your approach and attitude to these issues. But that doesn’t mean your perspectives need to be identical - it can make for an incredibly productive relationship if you and your co-founder balance each other out.  If building an inclusive business (e.g. one that welcomes working mothers of young kids, or training a diverse workforce) is important to you, make sure to factor that into your search as well. 

Test the waters
Before you sign any papers, you might want to embark on a substantial project together to get a better picture of how you work together, and how this person operates under stress. But if you do go down this path, make sure you have an agreement to fairly compensate them for their time.

How and where to find a co-founder

Treat it like a process
Approach finding a co-founder like you would raising capital or making sales - make it a priority and allocate time for it. Set a deadline, build a candidate funnel, design an interview/selection process, track candidate performance, etc. 

Harness your network
Finding a great co-founder can often come down to a chance encounter, so even though you have SO much to do at your desk, you need to be actively meeting and reaching out to as many people as possible, whether that’s your coworkers, old friends, or other people in the industry. Ask everyone whether they know anyone who might be interested in starting a company with you. You never know - they could introduce you to the right person, or even put themselves forward. 

A warning on teaming up with friends or family
If you’re considering friends and family for a co-founder role, proceed with caution. Although a strong friendship can be a huge help when it comes to powering through hard times, you might eventually need to have difficult discussions with this person or even fire them, and things could turn ugly.  How different would your friendship be if you worked together?  Is this a friend or family member you’re willing to lose?

Coworkers and industry peers can actually make for better co-founders, because while you might be on good terms, your relationship is ultimately rooted in professionalism. You’re more patient with a friend than you would be with a coworker, so if you need to discipline them, or they have to call you out, you might be hesitant to do so - and this hesitancy to take swift action can harm your business.

Looking beyond your existing network

1. Co-founder matching sites
One option is the Y-Combinator co-founder matching program. Even if you don’t find the right person, you’ll learn a lot more about what you’re looking for by going through the process.

2. Postdocs
If you’re a non-technical founder looking for a technical partner, postdocs are a great way to find people who have the specific expertise but aren’t as tethered to their institution as scientists who have tenured positions

3. Slack channels
Communities like Work on Climate, My Climate Journey, Airminers, etc, all have specific channels for people searching for co-founders.

4. Headhunters 
You can hire a recruiter to find a co-founder for you, but be prepared to shell out some cash.

5. LinkedIn
You can also cut out the middleman and headhunt yourself by using advanced search tools on LinkedIn for people with a specific skill set who’re based in a specific location. While this has a low success rate, it’s worth a shot if you’re struggling elsewhere.  It is part of the time consuming process a recruiter would use. 

The nuts and bolts of co-founder arrangements

Don’t wait to figure out compensation (cash, equity, etc) until later.  This is a common mistake and leads to a lot of pain and suffering down the road.  Keep in mind that people are less attached to equity when it isn’t worth anything, but things can rapidly change, so get your affairs in order from the get-go. Look at a few templates for co-founder agreements and see what works for you. Make sure you involve a lawyer before you finalize anything.

Don’t be possessive over the time you’ve already put into the business. Take a long-term view - even if you’ve worked for 6 or 9 months on your own, what does that really count for compared to a potential 10 years? If you want to start off on the right foot, your arrangement should make your partner feel like an equal. Instead of a true 50/50 arrangement, you might want to set up an unequal split, such as a 60/40 or a 51/49 split so it’s clear that someone has the final say (i.e. you) if the other needs to walk away. 

Make sure to create a vesting agreement, usually with at least a 1 year cliff and a 4 year vesting period, to incentivize a multi-year commitment - this isn’t a regular job. Both of you should be signing this.

Likewise, you’ll often have to go a long time without a full salary or with no salary at all. If someone has a mortgage or childcare to pay for, they might only have a runway of a few months - and you need to know that sooner rather than later, so have these tricky conversations as early as possible.

Nurturing your relationships with your co-founders

You might have a million things to do, and it’s easy to get stuck in an operational mindset, but maintaining relationships with your co-founders is key to the longevity of your business. Keep the lines of communication open - you need to feel like you can be open and candid with each other. 

One way to facilitate these conversations is to set aside an hour a week with no agenda. This is especially important in the first 12-24 months of your working relationship, as it creates a regular space where you can be transparent with each other. Ask what’s going well, what they want to change, and how you could better support each other.  Even great relationships take tending, and if your interpersonal foundation isn’t strong, the startup won’t be either.

Deepa Lounsbury is the CEO of LabStart, which unlocks entrepreneurial talent from diverse communities and breakthrough climate innovations out of our national labs and universities.  She has spent almost two decades bringing innovative clean energy products, programs, and initiatives to life.  This includes bringing a new residential battery product to market at Enphase Energy, building out the $24M California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development (CalSEED) program to fund early stage clean energy entrepreneurs, setting up GE’s first distributed energy platform, commercializing a demand side flexibility software product at a startup, and investing in early stage start-ups at one of the earliest clean energy venture capital firms, Angeleno Group.  Deepa holds a bachelor’s degree in business and international relations from the University of Southern California.  She graduated with her master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group in 2013.