RVNU #014: Finding the Right Co-Founder
How Laura and I Decided to Build Together
Introduction
In the startup world, finding the right co-founder is often compared to finding a life partner. For Laura and me, it was very much respect at first conversation.
The reason why choosing a co-founder is so pivotal is because they are going to need to be complementary in most aspects of your work, they’ll need to share the workload and responsibilities, they’ll need to be there for emotional support and resilience, they’ll be a sounding board for more balanced and well-considered decisions, and they’ll bring increased credibility in the marketplace.
Let me share how Laura and I came to work together, what we prioritized, and the frameworks we used to align.
1. How It Started: The Search for Alignment
I knew of Laura via a brief meeting in a social group perhaps 2 years previous. I immediately noticed some rare things about her profile. She had been promoted frequently within one company, where she stayed for 7+ years. She had started out in sales but then transitioned into revenue operations and had successfully grown with the company from startup to IPO. And was there at the NASDAQ bell ring!
As I do with many folk whose background piques my interest, I made a note to keep an eye on her career path, and as soon as I noticed she had started her own consulting practice, I offered to help her cut corners to become successful:
We both had experience building successful SaaS companies, but our strengths complemented rather that duplicated each other - Laura’s expertise is in systematizing growth and mine in driving GTM execution.
So, if nothing else I knew we could add value to each other so it made total sense for us to compare notes.
2. The Key Conversations: Values, Vision, and Grit
Vision: It did not take long for us to align on a vision about the kind of company we thought the market needed. We agreed that someone was going to build the next generation of accelerator focused on GTM, and we saw no reason why that shouldn’t be us.
We felt that we had at least as good a shot at it as anyone else. We also felt that the explosion of artificial intelligence made it great timing. We would be able to build faster with less resources than we could have in the past.
Values: Once we knew we had an aligned vision, we wanted to ensure that had personal and professional had value alignment.
I got on a plane and we spent time together in Santa Fe, New Mexico where Laura lives with her husband Zach. We all went to dinner and hung out and got to know each other better.
And then Laura and I proceeded to spend 3 days speaking with each other’s clients, former employers, and colleagues. We very quickly resolved to work on some of my clients in tandem as we knew this would uncover the reality of how we dealt with challenges in the workplace, and as well as confirm my hypothesis that Laura’s skillset was indeed hyper complementary to mine - which it was.
• Strengths and Roles: We knew we had complementary skill sets, but what roles would each of us play if we co-founded something?
I was very open-minded about roles. I outright asked Laura if she would like to be the CEO of any company we started together. She was fairly quick to point out that she felt it was my original vision enhanced by her perspective and that due to that dynamic she felt that I should take on the role of CEO.
I was genuinely open about titles, and still am to this day even though I currently hold the CEO title. The person to lead the company should be the right person at that moment in time. To get it off the ground, to bring the vision to life, it makes sense that it’s me, I suppose. But once we are humming and it’s a well-oiled machine, maybe Laura’s operator mind is best suited to optimize for scale, and become the CEO at that point?
Time will tell.
3. The Decision: Why We Chose to Build Together
Wayne’s take:
“Laura’s ability to systematize the GTM processes I was instigating across my client base filled a major gap I was struggling to truly do justice to solo, or that my client’s own RevOps resources were doing a good job of. I knew there was immediate value she could bring to the market.
However, I also knew that I needed someone to transfer the binary nature of the way in which I analyzed businesses and presented my insights, into something that folks on the ground would be prepared to grind hard to implement.
As an operator I would often rely upon my generals on the ground (Heads of Marketing/Sales/RevOps/CS/Enablement), but I didn’t have that foil in my business today, however I knew I needed it. I had spoken with about 10 folks who were all interested in co-founding something with me, but Laura was the first that ticked all the boxes.”
Laura’s take:
“Starting as a solopreneur, the advice I received was ‘focus your work’ and have a ‘point-of view’. As I started working with clients, I noticed a pattern of operational gaps within go-to-market teams. But it wasn’t until I spoke with Wayne and he walked me through the framework - that everything clicked. It was the clarity I needed and the ‘muse’ to us talking about building something together.
Wayne not only grounds me in a focused vision, he creates a safe space for us to equally challenge ideas elevating the potential vision of building something great.
Together, we realized we had the tools, experience, and mindset to tackle a massive problem in the SaaS market.”
4. Lessons for Other Founders
Laura and I did not know each other prior to working together on RVNU. One mistake we therefore avoided was rushing into a partnership without hard conversations about values and expectations. In getting to know each other, we took nothing for granted.
It also meant that prior to getting into the legalities of ownership and equity vesting schedules with lawyers, that we had had those hard conversations up front. There remained some tough conversations that lawyers helped us navigate successfully, however the conversations always moved in a positive direction.
We cut no corners on this exercise. It was a full 8 months of hard work, exploration and negotiation before we finally signed the documents that made RVNU and our partnership official.
By the end of the year, which is 4 months since we launched RVNU we will have:
- built and launched the RVNU brand
- added at least $50K MRR to the business
- built and launched our first product, and engaged 60+ founders
- built and launched our 2nd product, and engaged ~10 design partners
- built and launched our 3rd product
- published 20 newsletters
- tested a podcast concept
- have 3+ revenue streams live
Summary:
This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for many things, and now I can add one more thing to the list, that Laura and I committed to building RVNU!
Building a startup is hard enough—having the right person by your side can make the impossible seem possible.
If you’re looking for a co-founder or navigating your partnership, we’d love to hear about your journey—reply to this email or share your story.
Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating!
Wayne