Finding Co-Founder Alignment
Co-founder drama is a studio killer. When co-founder relationships go south, you’re not just in for awkward meetings—you could tank your entire company.
Disagreements over vision, leadership, or financial decisions can lead to slow decision-making, toxic work environments, and in worst-case scenarios, complete business failure. Investors lose confidence, employees start looking for the exit, and suddenly, what was once a promising young studio is now a sinking ship.
The Founder Alignment Questionnaire
The smartest way to avoid this scenario is to test for alignment before committing to starting a studio together. Too many founders jump in based on enthusiasm alone, only to realize later they have wildly different goals, work styles, or expectations.
This is where the co-founder alignment questionnaire comes in.
Put together by startup founder Gloria Lin, this questionnaire forces you to have the tough conversations upfront and uncover potential deal-breakers before lawyers and investors get involved.
It's the most useful when you're still trying to find the right co-founder(s) for your studio, but it also works to uncover latent frustrations between founders that rushed in.
You're primarily looking for:
- Alignment on Values: Every studio has different ways to win, but you and your co-founder need to agree on the playbook. Do you want a lean, indie-style studio, or are you aiming to be the next AAA powerhouse? Figuring out these differences early can prevent nuclear-level fights down the road.
- Flexing the Vulnerability Muscle: Being a co-founder means handling stress, burnout, and tough decisions together. This questionnaire forces you to say, Here’s how I handle pressure, here’s what drives me, and here’s what freaks me out. If you can’t have these conversations upfront, you’re setting yourself up for a meltdown later.
- Spotting Weaknesses: No founding team is perfect. Maybe neither of you have experience in publishing, or one of you is all vision with no execution. The questionnaire forces you to recognize these gaps so you can fix them before they become existential threats.
How to Use the Questionnaire Effectively
A structured test is great, but how you approach it matters just as much. Here’s how to get the most out of the process:
- Custom-Tailor Your Own Test: The questionnaire isn’t one-size-fits-all. You can adjust the order of questions to ease into the tougher ones or streamline it for quick co-founder speed dating. If there are key areas specific to your industry, add your own questions to target what truly matters for your startup.
- Keep Your Eyes on Your Own Paper: Fill out the questionnaire independently before discussing it. This isn’t a group exercise—if you answer together, you’ll end up with a polished but dishonest version of the truth. You want real differences to surface, not a forced consensus. As you go through the questions, take note of your personal non-negotiables—things you absolutely need in a co-founder and won’t compromise on.
- Reconvene to Compare Notes: Once you’ve filled it out, set aside time to go through your answers in person. Emailing them back and forth won’t cut it—you need to pick up on nuance and body language. This process takes time; expect multiple sessions, spaced out over several days. Some founders have spent over 60 hours on it, but when you’re making a decision that could define the next decade of your life, that’s time well spent.
What to expect
Before linking to the actual questions, here are the main categories, and the types of questions you can expect to answer:
- How You Operate: Are you a 24/7 grind type, or do you believe in work-life balance? Alignment here prevents future resentment.
- Roles: Who’s the CEO? Who’s handling fundraising? Avoid stepping on each other’s toes.
- Corporate Structure & Funding: What’s the equity split? How much are you raising? Who’s making financial decisions?
- Personal Motivation: Are they in it for a quick exit, or do they want to build for the long haul?
- Team Culture & Relationship: What’s the vibe of your company? What kind of people do you want to hire?
Here's the full questionnaire if you want to dive in:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DYUicjBbLydC0PGZbzZ58FcwP5-iB3zJ6ZvQW1nzd3s/edit?tab=t.0
Aligning with your co-founder is critical for the success of your studio. Doing it before committing is ideal, but it's never too late to start if you've already passed that station.
The best co-founder relationships make studios unstoppable. The worst? Well, they make great cautionary tales. Choose wisely.
P.S. Helping you to align with your co-founders is just one of the things I help studios with when we implement the Long Game Operating System for better studio management. Curious to hear what else it includes, and how it can help you lead your studio with more confidence, better results, and less friction? Let's talk!
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