CoFounders Lab was founded in 2011 with a mission to create and maintain a community for entrepreneurial startups in Chicago. The Lab is a hybrid of two organizations: the Branding Institute and the Entrepreneurism Institute of Chicago.
Both are committed to building the mindset, culture and infrastructure required to support startups. In addition, they work together to help entrepreneurs understand their business objectives and the public’s needs and want. Entrepreneurism also works closely with the Branding Institute to help create brand awareness in the marketplace.
Why did we start formalizing co-founder relationships?
After many failed Ventures and early-stage investments, many entrepreneurs started to think that they were being taken for a ride. Some were even taking on an additional mentor along with their prior business partners to help them accelerate their company growth by leveraging their combined knowledge and experience. Many more are starting to do the same. But a growing number of startups need help from formal mentors to accelerate their company growth while still retaining a significant stake in the company and a Board of Directors meeting.
Why would a company want to host a startup event attended by dozens or hundreds of startups? For one thing, the event is formalized by a third party with the expressed purpose of helping startups with strategic direction. Secondly, the event is hosted with a high-ranking executive coach from CoFounders Lab. CoFounders Lab works diligently to create a group of highly qualified executives who understand the type of traction and risk that new companies face.
Benefit of Meetings
Many successful companies hosting strategic planning sessions and internal meetings have realized the benefits of holding a monthly or quarterly event with a high-powered executive leadership retreat. While many entrepreneurs prefer to host a more “traditional” executive retreat instead of a startup event, some are beginning to realize that it is necessary to formalize co-founder relationships, understand why they engage in business, and benefit from such engagement.
CoFounders Lab has helped many startups formalize co-owner relations and understand the value of Board representation. A retreat hosted in conjunction with a high-powered business leadership advisory board can also help understand the benefits of Board representation and help develop a deeper understanding of the specific goals that the company is working towards.
Decision Makers | CoFounders Lab
One of the first things that new companies need is understanding their target customer and their unique culture. It is crucial to communicate with key decision-makers and members of the teams that make up their target customers. By effectively communicating with all key decision-makers, a startup can fine-tune its recruiting and development efforts to find the exact people that will make them successful.
The best way to do this is through a comprehensive executive leadership retreat that takes members deep into the specifics of their company and identifies gaps that need to be filled to move their business forward. During this comprehensive retreat, members of the startup team are given the chance to expand on their vision for the company and each member’s skill set to ensure they are well-equipped to execute their responsibilities once they join the company.
An important element in finding Co-founder
Another important element to finding great co-founders is to provide the necessary support. As soon as you have identified the individuals you believe would make a great fit for your organization, you need to make sure that they feel like they are valued and that their work is appreciated.
Regular communication with your new members can go a long way toward maintaining a positive atmosphere within your company, especially after the initial excitement wears off and new members start joining your team. A supportive environment is essential for finding great people, and CoFounders Lab provides the perfect solution.
Final Thoughts:
The truth is that most companies struggle with recruiting and retaining the best people. So to find great co-founders, you must focus on finding the talent. Finding the talent involves identifying characteristics that make people uniquely qualified to contribute to your company’s success, rather than simply hiring someone with a skill set that can bring value.
Many recruiting and development processes can be utilized to identify potential candidates, but finding great people has to be a unique area of expertise that only a select few companies can master. CoFounders Lab was designed to help accelerate finding great co-founders by providing a comprehensive package of personalized executive training tailored to the specific needs.
