The Founder Sync
One of the things that’s surprised me in my coaching work is how often cofounder conflict is not because of a failing relationship, but because of a lack of process - a lack of routine, built-in collaboration. Founders mistake their bad relationship habits for a bad relationship.
Creating regular opportunities to connect and collaborate effectively with your cofounder is one of the best ways to practice healthy relationship hygiene and minimize long-term conflict. I recommend that every team sets up what I call a 'Founder Sync.' Founder Syncs are dedicated, protected time each week to meet, give one another feedback, align and de-risk high-level strategy, provide management support to one another, and talk explicitly about trust and communication within your relationships. When done right, Founder Syncs should be one of the highest-leverage meetings you have every week.
Psychologically, Founder Syncs are soothing. Their consistency relieves anxiety. At a Founder Sync, it's expected that feedback - both positive and negative - is shared in every direction, and that difficult topics are surfaced. Setting aside time for this - week over week - resolves the stress and hand-wringing that often comes along with finding the 'right' time and place to deliver feedback or have tough conversations. What's more, scheduling time in which tough conversations can happen means no one will be surprised when they come up (which minimizes defensiveness).
Founder Syncs are regular, protected time each week in which you:
Align high-level strategy on product, direction, and priorities
Put existential threats in priority order
Hold each other accountable
Share bidirectional performance feedback - positive and negative
Give and receive management help
Talk about trust - in each other, in your product, in your current direction
Have a level 3 conversation to strengthen your relationship with each of your cofounders
What to Discuss
Founder Syncs are a mix of level 2 and level 3 conversations.
To tackle level 2 material, use the time to align on strategy, to make sure each of your teams has what they need from the other, to put your existential threats in priority order (and to discuss only the most important ones), to share context with one another on each of your functions, and to think through difficult questions together.
You’re also using this time every week to clear away relationship debt by having level 3 conversations. You’re talking honestly and giving feedback to one another - both positive and negative - so every founder knows what to keep doing and what to change. You're talking about each others' performance - what are you all doing well and where can each of you improve?
And you're also talking about trust, communication, and how you feel in relationship with one another - you're talking outright about the relationships you have, and what you might need in order for them to be stronger. Check in and commit to taking trustworthy actions, week over week, so that your relationships remain as strong as possible.
What to Discuss - by Stage
In the earliest stage when headcount is ~1-5 (pre-seed to seed), the Founder Sync can be used for bidirectional feedback that improves the cofounder relationship and communication, and to discuss any or all conflict arising from these tough questions. The goal of the meeting is to resolve relationship debt, build trust, practice giving effective feedback so you're well-seasoned by the time you hire anyone else, and to make sure everyone's aligned on strategy (since strategy often changes quickly). It's normal for the founding team to discover important differences over the course of working together - in your values, desired product direction, desired outcome, or commitment level. Use the Founder Sync to discuss these differences and to negotiate common ground.
Later on, the Founder Sync can be used to discuss product direction and development, but that shouldn't be a focus of this meeting at this stage. In a startup this small and early, product discussion already takes place ad hoc in every channel every day, so this meeting should instead focus on the relationship, communication, and overall alignment (or lack thereof). You're focused on the other building block of your company - the relationship of the founding team.
When headcount is ~5-20 (often seed to ~Series A), Founder Syncs continue their focus on bidrectional feedback, on improving the cofounder relationship and communication, and on any feelings related to short-term product execution in the march to PMF. You'll also start talking about management challenges you're experiencing with a goal of supporting one anothers' growth as leaders, your company's culture and values, and you'll stay aligned on your hiring plan and org structure (or discuss changes to both as-needed).
At this stage, it's easy for the Founder Sync to stay with level 2 material without ever dipping into level 3. Don't let that happen. Stay vulnerable and continue giving one another feedback about performance and the relationship. Not only will this be good practice for each of you later on when you start to manage a team (and then execs), you'll also need to start drawing down on the trust that level 3 conversations build as you continue undergoing crisis after crisis in your company.
By the time headcount is ~20+ (and definitely by the time it's ~40-50), most of the discussion about product will have spun off into a dedicated product meeting, and the level 2 material in a Founder Sync will cover bigger strategic questions, existential threats, and complex questions around scaling or architecture that could impact strategy/GTM/the next fundraise. This is when the Founder Sync starts to become the v1 of a Leadership Team Meeting where you've started to report on the health and performance of the teams underneath you, and can discuss any process needed to keep the org running smoothly.
When do we meet? For how long?
Founder Syncs are usually 60-90 minutes every week. My clients often schedule them on Friday afternoons so that they’re a little retrospective in nature, or on Thursday mornings (which I can't tell you the reason for). They should have an agenda that you’re all dropping discussion points into as you’re working during the week to make sure nothing gets lost or forgotten.
If you don't already have a Founder Sync - start now. What's best for you is what works for you, so schedule these meetings now and expect to iterate as your needs change. Just like your product, you'll always be iterating on your internal process and this meeting is no exception. The only thing that shouldn't change with a Founder Sync is the existence of it in your calendar - this regular, consistent, protected time. However, the day, duration, venue, agenda, and cadence are all open season.
Sample Agenda
The agenda of the Founder Sync is one of the first management challenges that every founding team can (and should) solve in their own particular style and way. Here’s a very basic skeleton you can - and should - take and develop as your own:
The Fundraising Founder Sync
Founder Syncs change a lot during fundraising. Here’s a sample agenda for one:
Instead of an hour, I recommend cutting to 20 minutes and scheduling them a few times a week instead of once weekly. Founder Syncs are more like Founder Standups during fundraising.
In a fundraising founder sync, every founder shares high-level context on their focus area so everyone stays in lockstep.
This is emotionally important because anxiety intensifies during fundraising - for everyone. The CEO is anxious about the responsibility of fundraising AND about giving away their normal work to others and losing context on progress. The cofounders responsible for running the company are anxious bc fundraising (a do or die inflection point) is completely outside of their control AND they’re overwhelmed by the CEO’s workload. Sharing high-level context and collaborating in a founder sync during fundraising is extremely anxiety-reducing for everyone.
And you’re also using this time to ask each other: What is your goal for today? How can I support you?
Explicit conversations about supporting each other are even more important during fundraising because everyone is in survival mode.
The fundraising founder sync - is a great example of how internal process can take care of your psychology and your relationships while still enabling super high performance. Process can look after all of your parts.
Start Now.
If you don't already have a Founder Sync - start now.
What's best for you is what works for you, so schedule these meetings now and expect to iterate on them as your needs change. Just like your product, you'll always be iterating on your internal process and this meeting is no exception. While the day, duration, venue, agenda, and cadence are all open season for evolution, the thing that should never change about a Founder Sync is the existence of it in your calendar, starting this week.
