10 Questions to Discuss with a Potential Co-founder

type

Post

status

Published

date

Apr 28, 2023

slug

10Question

summary

来源：Y Combinator

10 Questions to Discuss with a Potential Co-founder

Y Combinator runs a website where we help people find potential co-founders.Y Combinator 运营着一个网站，我们帮助人们寻找潜在的联合创始人。

While running that, we’ve had a lot of people ask for a set of questions to help figure out whether they’re a good match with a potential co-founder.在运行它时，我们有很多人问了一系列问题，以帮助弄清楚他们是否与潜在的联合创始人相得益彰。

We’ve compiled a list of the 10 questions that we think are the most important ones to answer. The best time to go through these is after you’ve gotten to know someone, have found an idea you’re both interested in working on, and are deciding if you’re ready to commit to working together.我们列出了我们认为最需要回答的 10 个问题。完成这些的最佳时间是在你认识某人、找到你们都感兴趣的想法并决定是否准备好一起工作之后。

We’ve split this document into two sections: the 10 most important questions to discuss before deciding to work together, and other questions that will help you get to know each other. We also included a checklist of things to do when bringing on a co-founder.我们将本文档分为两部分：在决定一起工作之前要讨论的 10 个最重要的问题，以及有助于你们相互了解的其他问题。我们还列出了一份清单，列出了在引入联合创始人时要做的事情。

Note that no questionnaire can be a substitute for actually spending a lot of time together in person to determine if you like working together and get along well in practice. That’s the only way to know if you’re actually compatible with someone, and it usually takes several months to know for sure. This questionnaire is designed to supplement that, not replace it. Here's the Google Doc version of this questionnaire if you'd like to use it as a template.请注意，没有任何问卷可以代替实际花费大量时间在一起以确定您是否喜欢一起工作并在实践中相处融洽。这是了解您是否真的与某人兼容的唯一方法，通常需要几个月才能确定。本问卷旨在补充而不是取代它。如果您想将其用作模板，请查看此问卷的 Google Doc 版本。

10 KEY QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS BEFORE DECIDING TO WORK TOGETHER在决定一起工作之前要讨论的 10 个关键问题

We derived these 10 questions by talking to many teams who met on YC’s co-founder matching, and by looking at the most common reasons founding teams break up. 我们通过与在 YC 的联合创始人匹配中认识的许多团队交谈，并查看创始团队解散的最常见原因，得出了这 10 个问题。

For a lot of these, you may not know the answer yet or may not have a strong opinion. That’s fine! Most things in startups you figure out as you go.对于其中的很多，您可能还不知道答案，或者可能没有强烈的意见。没关系！初创企业中的大多数事情都是你边走边想的。

The goal here is to detect situations where you might have strong differences, so you can discuss them early, rather than being caught unawares later on.此处的目标是检测您可能存在强烈分歧的情况，这样您就可以及早讨论它们，而不是稍后被打个措手不及。

The best way to go through this is for each founder to copy this document, write answers independently, then share your answers and discuss.解决这个问题的最好方法是让每个创始人都复制这份文件，独立写下答案，然后分享你的答案并进行讨论。

Why do you want to do this startup? What are your personal goals here, both financial and non-financial?你为什么要做这个创业公司？您在这里的个人目标是什么，包括财务和非财务目标？

What will our roles and titles be? How will we divide responsibilities? Who will be CEO?我们的角色和头衔是什么？我们将如何划分责任？谁将担任首席执行官？

Roles inevitably change a lot over time, but you should have a plan for what you’ll each work on for the first 6-12 months, and decide on who will be the CEO (and what the CEO’s responsibilities are).随着时间的推移，角色不可避免地会发生很大变化，但您应该为前 6 到 12 个月的每个人的工作制定计划，并决定谁将担任 CEO（以及 CEO 的职责是什么）。

How will we split up equity?我们将如何拆分股权？section

It’s important to resolve this one early. This

of the co-founder matching manual may help.

尽早解决这个问题很重要。联合创始人匹配手册的这一部分可能会有所帮助。

Where will the company be based? Where will we each live? Will we work together in-person or remotely?公司将设在哪里？我们每个人住在哪里？我们会面对面还是远程合作？

What idea will we work on? If that idea doesn’t work out, are you willing to change the idea? Are you only interested in working on ideas in certain areas?我们将研究什么想法？如果这个想法行不通，你愿意改变这个想法吗？您是否只对某些领域的想法感兴趣？

What needs to happen for each of us to go full-time (quit other jobs or school commitments)?我们每个人都需要做些什么才能全职工作（辞掉其他工作或学业承诺）？

I.e., We’d have to raise at least $xx from investors, we’d need to validate the idea with a paying customer, we’ll do it if we’re enjoying working together in two months. Obviously, this is N/A if you are both full-time already.也就是说，我们必须从投资者那里筹集至少 xx 美元，我们需要与付费客户一起验证这个想法，如果我们在两个月内享受合作，我们就会这样做。显然，如果你们都已经全职，则这是 N/A。

What is your personal financial situation? Are you willing to work for free and live on your savings? For how long? If you'll need a salary to work on this full-time (either now or at some point), how much do you need to feel comfortable? Will either of us put money into the company?您的个人财务状况如何？您愿意免费工作并靠积蓄生活吗？多长时间？如果你需要一份薪水来做这个全职工作（现在或某个时候），你需要多少钱才能感到舒服？我们中的任何一个人会把钱投入公司吗？

What will our typical working schedule be (what days we work, what hours / day, etc)? How long do we want to keep that up? Are there any things outside of work that are important to you to make time for?我们的典型工作时间表是什么（我们工作几天，什么时间/天等）？我们要保持这种状态多久？在工作之外，有没有什么事情对你来说很重要，需要腾出时间去做？

If we are successful enough to get to build a team of employees, are there things that are important to you about how we do that? I.e., building an in-person vs remote company, having certain cultural values, having a particular approach to hiring or managing people?如果我们足够成功，可以组建一支员工团队，那么关于我们如何做到这一点，有什么对您来说很重要吗？即，建立一个面对面的公司还是远程公司，具有一定的文化价值观，有一种特殊的雇用或管理人员的方法？

It’s fine if you don’t have strong opinions on this yet.如果您对此还没有强烈的意见，那也没关系。

What will we do if we’re having trouble agreeing on an important decision? What will happen if we decide we don’t want to work together anymore?如果我们无法就重要决定达成一致，我们该怎么办？如果我们决定不再合作，会发生什么？

QUESTIONS TO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER更好地了解彼此的问题

These are questions that are designed to teach you things about each other that are important for having a good relationship. These are good ones to go through once you’ve decided that working together makes sense.这些问题旨在教给您关于彼此的一些事情，这些事情对于建立良好的关系很重要。一旦你决定一起工作是有意义的，这些都是很好的经历。

How would your friends or colleagues describe your strengths and weaknesses?你的朋友或同事会如何描述你的长处和短处？

What are you proud of having accomplished (can be work-related or not)?您为取得的成就感到自豪（可以与工作相关或无关）？

What do you do with your free time? What are your hobbies and interests?你的空闲时间做什么？你的爱好和兴趣是什么？

One of the surprising things about successful co-founders is how consistently they have overlapping outside-of-work interests.成功的联合创始人令人惊讶的事情之一是他们在工作之外的兴趣是多么一致。

What are companies, founders, or products you really admire - especially ones that you want to model this company after?你真正欣赏的公司、创始人或产品是什么——尤其是你想效仿这家公司的公司、创始人或产品？

What were your experiences like at your past jobs or past startups? What did you like and not like about how the companies were run? What lessons did you take away?您在过去的工作或过去的初创公司中的经历如何？您喜欢和不喜欢这些公司的运营方式的哪些方面？你学到了什么教训？

What is your life story and how have your experiences shaped your values?你的人生故事是什么？你的经历如何塑造了你的价值观？

Have you worked with a co-founder previously? What was that experience like?你以前和联合创始人一起工作过吗？那是一种怎样的体验？

What kind of work is so fun for you it doesn’t feel like work? What kind of work do you avoid doing?什么样的工作对你来说如此有趣以至于不像工作？你避免做什么样的工作？

What are your long-term goals in life? What is your overall life plan and how does this startup fit into it?你人生的长期目标是什么？您的总体人生计划是什么，这家初创公司如何融入其中？

What makes you most excited about working with me?和我一起工作最让你兴奋的是什么？

What makes you concerned about working with me?是什么让你担心和我一起工作？

What environment do you work best in? What can we do to help you create it?你最适合在什么环境下工作？我们可以做些什么来帮助您创建它？

What’s the best way for me to give you feedback?我给你反馈的最佳方式是什么？

When you feel stressed, do you tend to want to talk about what’s going on or avoid talking about it?当您感到有压力时，您是倾向于谈论正在发生的事情还是不想谈论它？Amy Buechlerexcellent article

Psychologist and founder coach

wrote an

on this and how these two styles affect co-founder relationships.

心理学家兼创始人教练 Amy Buechler 就此以及这两种风格如何影响联合创始人关系写了一篇精彩的文章。

Are there pressures in your life that you’re dealing with now?你现在生活中有压力吗？

Often pressures or challenges in your life create pressure on your startup. If you’re dealing with a family issue, a visa / immigration issue, a health issue, etc., you should really tell your co-founder because it’s important for them to know what’s going on.生活中的压力或挑战通常会给您的创业公司带来压力。如果你正在处理家庭问题、签证/移民问题、健康问题等，你真的应该告诉你的联合创始人，因为让他们知道发生了什么很重要。

Checklist of things to do when bringing on a co-founder引入联合创始人时要做的事情清单

Ok, you’ve gone through the questionnaire and everything seems promising. Great! Here are some related things you’ll want to do.好的，您已经完成了问卷调查，一切看起来都很有希望。伟大的！这里有一些你想做的相关事情。

BEFORE DECIDING TO WORK TOGETHER:在决定一起工作之前：

☐ Meet in person and do a trial project.☐ 亲自见面并做一个试验项目。

☐ Do reference calls on each other. Ask people who have worked with your potential co-founder what it was like working with them, and for advice on how to work with them effectively. It’s best if you do this transparently – agree on when you are ready to take this step and then swap suggested references.☐ 互相参考拜访。询问曾与你的潜在联合创始人共事过的人，与他们共事的感觉如何，并就如何有效地与他们共事寻求建议。最好是透明地执行此操作——商定何时准备好执行此步骤，然后交换建议的参考资料。

☐ Given how important this person is going to be in your life, if you have a spouse or a serious relationship, you should have your significant other meet your co-founder.☐ 考虑到这个人在你的生活中有多重要，如果你有配偶或认真的关系，你应该让你的另一半与你的联合创始人见面。

AFTER DECIDING TO WORK TOGETHER: 决定一起工作后：

☐ Create a system to prioritize tasks and decide what to work on.☐ 创建一个系统来确定任务的优先级并决定要处理的内容。

This is a great post on one such system. You don’t have to adopt this one, but it’s important to have some system.这是一篇关于此类系统的精彩文章。你不必采用这个，但拥有一些系统很重要。

☐ Set up a recurring 1-1 with each other (typically once a week) to talk specifically about how things are going with working together.☐ 彼此定期进行 1-1 交流（通常每周一次），具体讨论一起工作的进展情况。

This concept was created by Amy Buechler, who named them “Founder syncs”. She wrote a detailed guide to how to run them. Done correctly, these can really help avoid co-founder breakups.这个概念是由 Amy Buechler 创建的，他将它们命名为“Founder syncs”。她写了一份关于如何运行它们的详细指南。如果做得好，这些确实可以帮助避免联合创始人分手。