Friday, August 11, 2023

Two tigers cannot share the same mountain

I've known my co-founder for 11 years. Despite our long-standing, laid-back relationship, we often face challenges when making business decisions. Here's what we've discovered.

Two tigers cannot share the same mountain

When we work together, both of us want to be the decision-maker. We often struggle to come to an agreement, and when we do, it usually involves a tough battle.

So, how do we solve this?

We each took ownership of separate projects: Ian took on Popping.live, and I focused on Receipt-AI.com. Regardless of challenges or successes, the owner takes responsibility. We still support each other with business strategies and pull requests, but the battles are fewer, and we’ve both made great progress since then.

When two smart and capable people are passionate about the same thing, it's important to have clear and separate responsibility. Simply gathering talent doesn't always translate to success. In the NBA, Westbrook, KD, and Harden were on the same team, but they never won any championships together. While in sports you might blame the coach, but in the startup world, there's no one else to point fingers at. You have to figure out what works for your team and guide yourself to success.

Remember, two tigers can work together, and it's important to have one as the ultimate decision-maker, set up clear responsibilities to unleash every team member's strength.