co-founder, incorporationI have a specific composition of technical skills (BigData + ML + Cloud) and know how to deliver good quality product and I’ve created one, let’s call it MagicBox. It took me a year of hard work to get to the point where the product is now. During the production I’ve established a company to organize it in a legal way (taxes).
I have two corporate clients (they’ve found me themselves) which are paying for using MagicBox and there are more companies interested in testing. In general it earns enough for me to get decent salary and pay at least one more dev. I can get ~5 more clients without to much hassle.
There is a competitor on the market with >$10M of funding and established reputation. My product outperforms theirs in tests (tests made by a client). The technology is not trivial to copy.
I’m a hacker by heart and do not like to spend time on paperwork, business and marketing stuff. The money is no motivation for me.
I’m considering if I should:
My default was option no. 2, but I met few crazy people and they think it’s a huge chance to do a cool business, support community and make the world around us a bit better. One of the people I’ve bounced the idea/product expressed interest in cooperation and taking the business to the next level. He has more business experience, a network of contacts (with all genre of people), feels comfortable doing all the business related work. We know each other for long, have similar work ethics, we also shared some failures - in other words, we trust each other.
I’m still weighing options. But going with option 3, should I hire him, establish him as a cofounder or give him share of the company? His main motivation seems be to build a business not money (although needs to get salary, as do I).
Well there are e few of the named factor that I would consider while making this decision.
First of all you seem to like what you have been doing this year and you like your product so option 1. is at least for me no option. That is your back up plan if everything goes wrong.
Then the second factor is the product and its market. It seems to attract costumer and generate revenue, as well as outperform the competition. Now offer that on a lower price then the competition does and you got a growing business guarantee it. So I would go for option 3. but take this “going on a global scale” with a grain of salt. There is no such thing as over night success. There is a 3-7 years hard work before you will be called a over night success. Be aware that there will be backlashes, customers will not get what your value proposition is or partners will leave. If you are willing to invest 100% of your possible worinking power to this and you think you have people around you who are willing to do the samem then you can go for it. But as said keep in mind that you do not go global over night.
The third and last factor is your partner. Do you know him, is he trustworthy, did you check if he has history of other maybe failed companies. I don’t want you to be paranoid, but cautious. Many companies fail with great products but bad execution or over confident leaders. Check him, make clear rules and even clearer contracts. As an executive he will be running your company. So it is essential that you keep the majority of the shares, in an emergency you can still fire him. Keep in mind though that a lot of shares will also go out to investors if you cannot sustain your growth with the revenues you are generating.
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