Lesson Progress:

Module 1 – So you want to change the food system

4. Entrepreneur testimonials on having co-founders​

“My founders left along the way. It is important that you think about this when you start working together. If you break up after a while, there are always discussions about money etc. I see this everywhere around me. Put things on paper to avoid big fights.”

-Chantal, Co-Founder at Kromkommer

“Having a co-founder is incredibly important. I think you’re crazy enough to start a business with a co-founder, let alone without one. One of the most important things you do early on is figuring out what you don’t know and it’s probably most things, so find someone who can complement what you bring to the table. Plus, it’s more fun… you get to share your success with someone else and you get to provide therapy for each other when things aren’t going so well.”

-Dan Kurzrock, Co-Founder and Chief Grain Officer at Regrained

Mount Start Up

(https://john.onolan.org/vision/)

“Building a startup is like climbing a mountain where you can only see forward, but not up. (…) Every time you think you’ve made some good progress toward success, you discover a giant ravine as you realise that half the stuff you just spent all of your time and energy building was wrong. It got you to where you are now, but it won’t get you any further up the mountain. Each time you think “ok, I’ve got it now” – and then you hit the next ravine. Fuck. To some extent, this is a gift. If you were able to look all the way up and see just how high that mountain is – you’d probably never climb it in the first place. Conversely, a large part of startup success is the ability to look up as far as possible. When people talk about founder “vision” – I like to think of it as the ability to look far up the mountain. To avoid as many ravines as possible and stay on a path which doesn’t lead to a single, isolated peak. The remaining part, I think, is how many times you’re able to say “fuck.” – and then just keep on going anyway.”

– John O’Nolan