Bursts of Color - Co-Founder Tenure
It takes a long time to build a successful company. Even the most fortunate often go 10+ years before a milestone event like IPO or acquisition.
So it’s tricky — but not uncommon — when one or more co-founders leave in the early years. As noted in this post from Carta, more than 25% of companies lose a co-founder before Year 5.
Planning Ahead
It’s natural for people to leave over time for all kinds of reasons. But a co-founder departure can be tough on the rest of the company and the remaining founder/s… both emotionally and otherwise. My best advice includes two things:
Try to keep an open line of communication with one another to limit surprises and give as much time as possible for succession planning.
Consider longer and/or alternative vesting schedules, so that one person doesn’t earn the same amount of equity for 4 years that another will get for 12. I’ve previously touched on this and related topics in Founder Compensation.
Hiring Candidates
Three for you this week. As always, please feel free to contact them directly or let me know if you’d like an intro.
Suzanne Shultz - Product Management. Suzanne and I overlapped at eBay, where she was a well-regarded PM leader for products including eBay Motors and platform-wide search. She has been consulting for startups over the past several years and is eager to find the right next full-time role as an IC or leader. She lives in the SFBA. suzanne.shultz [at] gmail.com
Evan Chang - College Intern. Evan is a family friend and an economics student at Northeastern, where he is a member of several investment and finance clubs. He has some research project work lined up for this summer, but would love to find a complementary internship where he can gain more hands-on experience in sales, support or analytics. He lives in the SFBA. evanchang8[at]gmail.com
Dillon Newman. Dillon is Mike’s family friend and a student at Davidson, where he is part of their finance association. In high school Dillon started an online sports card business that generated over $15k revenue. Dillon lives in LA and is also open to living with family in SF or NY this summer for the right internship in finance, sales or support. dillonsnewman[at]gmail.com
Impressed by the talent