The Initial Team

Just read a very interesting opinion that I agree with a great deal:

http://stakeventures.com/articles/2005/07/07/bap-7-searching-for-the-team

My first attempt at a start-up was a company called VisitHome.com (it was fairly similar to CommunityWalk as you might guess from the name). In any case I tried starting that with my college roommate. I quickly realized in that venture that our motivations and drive differed quite a bit. Both of these factors made it a bad environment to work in, with a great deal of bitterness building up.

Then and there I decided never to try and start a company with friends unless I was 100% certain that everyone involved was equally committed to the project and the skillsets of each person were equally needed in order to get the company up and running.

Well those requirements are hard to fulfill, which is why I am doing CommunityWalk alone. Although this means more work for me it, it allows me to maintain the direction of the project and will allow me to clearly define roles when I bring someone else on. I truly believe that this path will pay off in the long run, even if it means a little more work now and not having anyone to share the excitement with.

Now there are obviously other pluses and minuses to co-founding a company, but I truly believe right now that unless the requirements above are not met then all the other minuses will far outweigh the various pluses.