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MenuHow do you define the word "founder"?
Treat this as more of a philosophical question: I'm curious what merits the term founder. Idea, sweat, capital, what carries the most weight to earn the title "founder"? Is this the same for all models (non-profit, volunteer community organization, startup, small business, etc).
Answers
Founder:
When a ship fills with water and sinks.
A founder is a person who's in at the beginning. But beginnings are slippery things. For me there are three characteristics I look at: early contribution, risk, and ownership.
The most obvious founder is the solo founder who worked a long time on their own, took most of the risk, and owns the whole company. When they eventually hire employees, those people come into an established structure and are just there for a paycheck. Those employees didn't make an early contribution, they aren't taking much risk, and don't have ownership, so they're clearly not founders.
It gets fuzzier when you have more people, especially ones who didn't all start at the same time. If two people bump along for a while and add a third, can one call that third person a founder? Often I'd say yes when that third person made key early contributions, took a lot of risk, and was rewarded with a significant percentage of the company. They weren't there at day 1, but they still joined before the company had significant investment or traction. Without them, the company really wouldn't be the success it ended up being.
An example from my own life: I was one of 6 people who were there at the beginning of Sidereel. I spend a couple of months with them defining the product and writing a lot of the early code. But then I left to do other things. Was I a founder? I say no: I was there from the start, so I made an early contribution, but by leaving I passed on the risk and the ownership.
Related Questions
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1) Look up local universities and email the chairperson of whichever programs relate to the type of cofounder you need (i.e. electrical engineering, marketing, etc.). You could even possibly go there in person and put up a sign on a bulletin board. 2) There may be relevant Meetups in your area, go there and network with attendees (www.meetup.com). 3) If you're specifically looking for engineers, look up local 'hacker' / maker spaces that may exist in your area (see here: https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/List_of_Hacker_Spaces). Send me a message if you want to discuss more options and how to access them, all the best, LeeLV
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The previous answers given here are great, but I've copied a trick from legendary investor Monish Pabrai that I've used in previous startups that seems to work wonders -- especially if your company does direct B2B sales. Many Founders/ CEOs are hung up on having the Founder/ CEO/ President title. As others have mentioned, those titles have become somewhat devalued in today's world -- especially if you are in a sales meeting with a large organization. Many purchasing agents at large organizations are bombarded by Founders/ CEOs/ Presidents visiting them all day. This conveys the image that a) your company is relatively small (the CEO of GM never personally sells you a car) and b) you are probably the most knowledgeable person in the organization about your product, but once you land the account the client company will mostly be dealing with newly hired second level staff. Monish recommends that Founder/ CEOs hand out a business card that has the title "Head of Sales" or "VP of Sales". By working in the Head of Sales role, and by your ability to speak knowledgeably about the product, you will convey the message that a) every person in the organization is very knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the product (even the sales guys) and b) you will personally be available to answer the client's questions over the long run. I've used this effectively many times myself.VR
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