How to Avoid Co-Founder Conflicts

There are always pros and cons to having multiple founders at a startup as opposed to being a solo founder. In my experience, most founders are happy to have a co-founder because it means they aren’t alone in such a challenging endeavor. At the same time, conflicts between co-founders are bound to happen.

The underlying issue of co-founder conflicts is confusion. Most co-founder groups are able to agree on their responsibilities. They tend to play to their strengths, such as one founder handling sales while the other handles the product. Unfortunately, this separation of functions doesn’t always extend when it’s time to make key decisions about the direction of the startup.

Even if co-founders share a general vision for the company, that won’t be the case every time. If there is a difference of opinion, co-founder teams don’t always know who gets final say in making a decision, who has veto power, and who will get their way if they don’t agree on something.

While it can be good to debate and closely examine all sides of a decision, this can also result in paralysis by analysis. Rather than being able to make a decision or come to a compromise, a co-founder team can get dug into opposing viewpoints, leading to inaction and endless frustration. Needless to say, this isn’t good for a startup and can cause growth and momentum to slow. After all, it’s the job of founders to make key decisions that help to move the business forward.

To avoid such a fate, co-founders should create a decision-making structure that can guide this process and reduce conflict as much as possible. This means defining both functional and executive responsibilities for each co-founder. Co-founders should also define who will be the advisor, who will have their voice heard, and who will make the final decision for various types of issues. Keep in mind it might be prudent for co-founders to focus on decisions within their area of expertise. 

The most critical part for co-founders is to define the parameters of the decision-making process ahead of time. This can’t be something that co-founders are making up on the fly or change their minds about in the middle of a debate. Before discussing an issue, it should be known who will make the final call on the decision. 

With a structure in place for making decisions, co-founders will be able to avoid unnecessary conflicts and make decisions in an efficient and professional way. More importantly, they can avoid getting bogged down in discussions that go nowhere and delay an actual decision being made, helping to eliminate bottlenecks that stunt growth.