Deciding whether someone should be a co-founder or early employee (part one)

At an early stage of the launch of your startup, you need to have several employees in your team. Which of them should be offered a partnership and which one should be hired?

Consider the following questions to determine if the partner will help you shape your strategic vision and company values:

• Are the competencies of an expert so important that a startup cannot operate without them?
• Are they willing to give themselves to the project as you would for a long period of time?
• Do they share your vision, or did they join the project only because of the salary?

As a co-founder, choose a person you respect, who has leadership skills, strategic competencies, professional knowledge and who can perform many tasks independently.

Not all partners and co-founders need to be business-oriented, but since they are directly involved in defining the vision of the company, they must understand the true value of your startup.

In early-stage startups, both partners and employees usually receive less than market pay, but their financial motivation is very different. Founding partners usually do not take their salaries before a steady income is generated. The first step is for co-founders to work on increasing the value of their share in the startup. They understand that they have the potential to earn much more in the future by scaling up their business, rather than by receiving salaries from day one.