CoFounderator thoughts... older but still relevant?
22-SECOND THOUGHT EXERCISE:
STEP 1: Read the 2 sentences below and IGNORE the drop-down menus.STEP 2: Read them again, this time MAKE A SELECTION from the drop-down menus.
A) IMAGINE that you have...
...the very real potential to be HUGE - and make MILLIONS of dollars!!!
B) NOW, imagine that you...
...actually take it to the next level and truly realize your (multi-million-dollar) potential!
*NOTE on ABOVE*
Please pause and think about how dramatically the situation changes with (and without!) those drop-down options! #Deep :)
More CoFounder-Specific PREMISES & Thoughts on potential CoFounderator Models:
1A. Many founders will spend/waste A LOT OF TIME (months? a year? more?) searching for the right startup team members - particularly Co-Founders!
1B. ...and/or many founders will “settle” (either quickly or eventually) for a less-than-ideal fit (and/or going it alone as a "Solopreneur" - not by choice, but for lack of other options)
2A. Many idea-stage startups (pre-funding, pre-revenue, pre-traction) simply can’t offer enough compensation — to employees, exec-level management, co-founders, whomever — in terms of guaranteed money and/or excitement about the potential value of stock — to pry truly great people away from whatever else they’re working on…
2B. And, realistically, there is a very low probability that the equity component of a startup compensation package will ever have any real-world (liquid) value.
3A. People who are truly great at what they do (via natural strengths/talent or expertise developed from experience) tend to work faster and more efficiently than those who are average or less-talented or about to START a lengthy Learning Curve .
3B. We’ve all heard the expression “Work smarter, not harder.” (“Work more EFFICIENTLY with the hours you work; don’t just work more hours.”) If you work SMARTER (and more efficiently), you should (theoretically) be freeing up many more hours — to potentially work on a second venture (or a Weekends/Nights "Starter Startup") — without too much negative effect on your first/primary venture.
***WHAT IF MORE STARTUPS - at least initially, "Prior to Proof" - WERE STARTED WITH PART-TIME CO-FOUNDERS?***
A) It would decrease the compensation needs of GREAT Co-Founders if they were able to keep the security of their full-time gig - OR -
B) It would (if desired) allow GREAT Co-Founders to participate in 2, 3, 4 or more of these "Starter Startups" - potentially many startups under the umbrella of a single "CoFounderator" building/program - thus increasing the likelihood that one (or more) would be a WINNER!
4. Smart investors don’t invest in only one company (they invest in many companies — to diversify their portfolio, to mitigate risk, and to increase the odds of having MULTIPLE winners)… So why is it so unheard of (and/or frowned upon) for that same line of thinking to apply to:
A) the actual startup company (multiple ventures / business units)?
B) startup founders, c-level execs, and other key team members?
C) and/or why aren’t there more incubator/accelerator startup models that actually encourage the simultaneous pursuit of multiple ventures under umbrella companies that share personnel and resources?
5. This model obviously won’t work for every type of startup or every type of entrepreneur. (Speed to market is more/less important for some startups. Some of us can obviously multi-task more effectively than others. And some of us enjoy variety more than others do.) But, whether we realize it or not, we ALL have plenty of experience dividing our time and focusing our efforts in multiple directions...
Because it wasn’t too long ago that we were all REQUIRED to multi-task regularly:
You can stop here. Everything below is... 
The “CoFounderator” (More Thoughts on the Potential Model)
A “CoFounderator” is a new incubator/accelerator/co-founder-matching model designed to create/launch/grow MORE successful startups (initially as "Starter Startups") with significantly BETTER than average success rates by:- putting multiple horses in the race with unique compensation models
- attracting/matching/incentivizing more talented startup team members (up to and including C-level executives and Co-Founders)
- matching skill-sets more effectively
- more efficient use of time and resources
- assembling “All-Star teams” to work on multiple startups at once (shared resources, economies of scale... and creating startup “dream teams” of sorts, working on and having significant upside in multiple startup ventures at once).
- On one level, it can be viewed as simply a resource-sharing model; however, not only do CoFounderators share (traditionally-shared resources like) office space, a receptionist, accounting/legal, custodial, etc., but CoFounderators additionally share key personnel, c-level team members, up to and including Co-Founders!
Perhaps your progress will not be AS fast as if you had 100% of a team’s time/effort/focus on one venture. But,
A) this is for situations where either that's not feasible or
B) this is for startups where speed to market isn't do-or-die and the (slightly?) slower pace is outweighed by the benefits of decreasing: costs, search time, risk of less-than-ideal options, etc. - or C) for this guy:
The details will undoubtedly take some time to evolve... Maybe this is a model that gets implemented within existing incubators, accelerators, or co-working/hybrids like The Atlanta Tech Village, ATDC, Switchyards, etc. (Note: All Atlanta examples because that’s where I’m based.) Or, heck, maybe this is even the type of thing that Venture Capital firms would want to run — if they believe and/or we can prove that this CoFounderator model does, in fact, dramatically increase the success rate of startups.
Regardless, I am interested to hear feedback and hope to get some discussion started about this new twist on existing incubators/accelerators.
Contact us for more info and/or to get involved!
Actively Seeking Experienced Entrepreneurs (particularly those in the ATLANTA STARTUP COMMUNITY), with whom all/most/any of the above really resonated...