• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

A co-founder worth fighting for

Published: Monday, 28 January 2013

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.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Plates

    "If you have too much on your plate, get a bigger plate." I first heard this when I was doing a leadership course in London in 2009.  Everyone in the...

  • Fetch Robotics

    I visited Fetch Robotics as part of a field trip for a Stanford course I took. Fetch Robotics sold to Zebra Technologies for $290 million in 2021....

  • #TechMyWay with Ashton Kutcher

    Spoke at a Lenovo event by myself for 12 minutes and then on a panel with Ashton Kutcher.  Met with Hollywood’s Steve Jobs and had a yarn about...

  • Success is in the doing

    Even if I know my chances of success are slim because I've been disorganised, have missed deadlines, have generally not followed my own rules for...

  • Nail painting robot

    A robot friend suggested we go and get our nails painted by a robot!  So we went and did that!  The first time I saw a nail painting robot was at CES...

  • Ruby Payne-Scott

    Ruby Payne-Scott was a pioneer radio physicist.  I was asked to go in and narrate her story for the ABC’s Fierce Girls series.  Listen to it here!...

  • Stop the world, I want to get off!

    Uni, business, studies, networking- like clockwork, life never seems to stop moving.  Rushing through breakfast to get to lectures on time, quick...

  • The Year of a Young Australian of the Year

    In 2008, I founded Robogals as a response to there being hardly any other women in my engineering classes. Our organisation is run by university...

  • Scrap paper

    I write all my blog posts on scrap paper. I printed so many speeches last year that I have all these A4 scrap sheets of paper that just have...

  • Speaker in the USA!

    I received my USA visa to do speeches in the USA several months ago.  I’m very excited about spreading my messages and telling my stories all over...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top