{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-blog-post-ts","path":"/the-co-founder-relationship/","result":{"data":{"site":{"siteMetadata":{"title":"Clausehound Blog","author":"Joshua Koudys"}},"markdownRemark":{"id":"65fccc2b-c75c-5a0b-8b37-3e6bffed22e1","excerpt":"Julie Zuzek “the Corporate Yogi” and I have been friends for nearly a decade, and I have often tried to apply her approach to the “entrepreneur mindset” over…","html":"

Julie Zuzek “the Corporate Yogi” and I have been friends for nearly a decade, and I have often tried to apply her approach to the “entrepreneur mindset” over the course of my own founder journey. I had a chance to recently listen to her podcast series on co-founders.

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Julie’s complete podcast series can be found here: (http://www.thecorporateyogi.com/podcast/ ) and to listen to the series on co-founders, check out the following links:

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Part 1: http://bit.ly/2qq4IJT

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Part 2: http://bit.ly/2psD0Lv

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Part 3: http://bit.ly/2qj1J8t

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This series on co-founders also shares the stories and successes of two sets of co-founders who are interviewed over the course of the series. After listening to the series, I had a chance to reflect and had a few thoughts:

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  1. The co-founder dynamic is both fragile and powerful;
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  2. Third party coaching is much less expensive than a founder breakup, and can uncover techniques to help co-founders/senior executives to interpret each other and to communicate with one another;
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  3. People dynamics are fluid and go through periods of “more honesty” and “less honesty”; and
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  4. Mutual respect and having fun (versus job advancement/wealth creation) make the journey worthwhile.
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The third item above - co-founder/executives as fluid dynamics, caused me the most discomfort, as it was a reminder that your co-founders/senior executive relationships are a constant work-in-progress. People are constantly surprising, and of course the most important people on your team can also cause the greatest and most impactful (positive and negative) surprises.

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Having discussed this topic of fluid founder dynamics with hundreds of members of our group Founder’s Only, I have found consensus that recruiting and finding the right partner at the co-founder/executive level is a difficult milestone on the road to entrepreneurship. This is a worthwhile and pleasant set of interviews guiding company founders/co-founders or executives to navigate this difficult road.

","frontmatter":{"title":"The Co-Founder Relationship","date":"November 03, 2017","description":"Julie Zuzek 'the Corporate Yogi' and I have been friends for nearly a decade, and I have often tried to apply her approach to the 'entrepreneur mindset' over the course of my own founder journey. I had a chance to recently listen to her podcast series on co-founders.","author":{"id":"rajah@cobaltcounsel.com","first":"Rajah","last":"Lehal","bio":"Rajah Lehal is Founder and CEO of Clausehound.com. Rajah is a legal technologist and technology lawyer who is, together with the Clausehound team, capturing and sharing lawyer expertise, building deal negotiation libraries, teaching negotiation in classrooms, and automating negotiation with software.","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1,"src":"/static/d7bbad08c257f3987a4a5710553e9e17/bdd4d/Rajah.jpg","srcSet":"/static/d7bbad08c257f3987a4a5710553e9e17/2b9ee/Rajah.jpg 80w,\n/static/d7bbad08c257f3987a4a5710553e9e17/e5d64/Rajah.jpg 160w,\n/static/d7bbad08c257f3987a4a5710553e9e17/bdd4d/Rajah.jpg 320w,\n/static/d7bbad08c257f3987a4a5710553e9e17/6e63d/Rajah.jpg 400w","sizes":"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px"}}}},"tags":["Journey","Rajah"]}}},"pageContext":{"slug":"/the-co-founder-relationship/","previous":{"fields":{"slug":"/enter-legal-agreements/"},"frontmatter":{"title":"Why do you enter into legal agreements?","tags":["Rajah","Contract Overviews"],"author":{"id":"rajah@cobaltcounsel.com","first":"Rajah","last":"Lehal"}}},"next":{"fields":{"slug":"/medical-marijuana-in-the-workplace/"},"frontmatter":{"title":"Medical Marijuana in the Workplace","tags":["Announcements","aching"],"author":{"id":"alva@clausehound.com","first":"Alva","last":"Ching"}}}}}}