No doesn't mean…

I hate you.

You suck.

Your project is stupid.

You're not good enough.

You're wasting your time on your project.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Your family should be ashamed of you.

You're arrogant.

You're a publicity whore.

You're fake.

Your work sucks.

I don't know how you got so far in life with that.

No just means no.

I was starting up my new start-up and I was finding it hard to get my desired co-founder to commit.  So I thought back over my experiences of the past few years.

I think the biggest asset of having a co-founder, is that you have another human being who is out in the world having experiences, learning new things, taking in feedback and data, observing how people react to things, processing how the world works, and then contributing their thoughts to the table.

Another brain thinking about the start-up when they're in the shower, doing exercise or commuting on public transport.

What I've found is that the problem I'm thinking about at all those times isn't necessarily the same as the problem my co-founder is thinking about.

So we either solve problems twice as quickly together, or we solve two problems at the same time.  And that's priceless.

From an organisational point of view, it's better to focus on doing a small number of things right, than a large number of things wrong.

In September 2009, I held a Guinness World Record attempt for the Largest Robot Dance.  About 350 people attended.  In September 2010, I held the Robots Are Coming robotics art exhibition in the middle of Wynyard Park.  Over 100,000 people saw the exhibition during the course of that week.

Both these events were followed by 3-day conferences that I organised and ran.  That was tiring.

In October 2010, I was exhausted, and I decided I would not hold an event like that again.  I decided Robogals Global would focus on running robotics workshops very well and to only run large projects that directly achieved our aim of getting girls interested in engineering.  Instead, we would encourage Robogals chapters to hold community events like the Robot Dance and Robotic Art Exhibition if they were interested in doing so in their communities.

By doing that, Robogals is able to develop up a core number of programs, while Robogals chapters around the world are given the freedom and support to do amazing things around the world, such as Robogals Caltech consulting with Disney Pixar on a movie about "Tinkerbell:  the engineer", tea parties held by Robogals Western Australia, Robogals Girls in Robotics Days by Robogals University of Queensland, and Robogals London's collaborations with the London Science Museum holding themed robotics holiday workshops.

Focus on getting a small number of things right, and it will enable you to grow into doing a larger number of things right.

In the first three months, Robogals Melbourne was formed (July ~ September 2008).

In the next three, I got to know London and Europe (October 2008 ~ January 2009).

In the third three, I worked with Aakanksha Chhikara, who set up Robogals London.  I also planned a large event for Robogals.  (February 2009 ~ April 2009).

The next three, I began planning a conference to expand Robogals throughout Australia and continued planning the large event.  (May 2009 ~ July 2009).

The next two, more conference planning and holding a successful big event (August ~ September 2009).

The next three, managing the expansion of Robogals throughout Australia (October 2009 ~ January 2010).

The next three, expanding Robogals throughout the UK.  (February 2010 ~ April 2010).

...

...

...

You can achieve anything if you break it up into 3-month manageable chunks of "done" that includes room for failures, self-assessment, reflecting and learning lessons to help you get to the next stage.

My co-founder didn't want to work on my next start-up idea with me because he was too tired.

I didn't want to work on his next start-up idea because I didn't understand the business model.

So I thought about finding a new co-founder.  Which made me think about what makes a good co-founder.  At the most basic level, they have to

• get along well with me
• have complimentary skills
• be ruthlessly authentic enough with me to hold me accountable

And it made me realise the relationship between co-founders is make-or-break for start-ups.  If co-founders don't get along, can't agree on things, or are too polite, the start-up is what suffers.

I didn't want to do a dance to find another co-founder I'd have to get used to spending 120 hours a week with, so I worked my hardest until I convinced my current co-founder to be my co-founder again in my next venture (I found out every single concern he had about doing another start-up with me over the course of a few weeks and allayed all of them).

Good things are rare and worth fighting for.