Lumo's top 10 tips for startup success: 1. Don't go it alone.

Starting a business is exciting but also challenging. Many entrepreneurs believe they must handle everything themselves to succeed. Yet, having a co-founder can make a huge difference. Sharing the journey with someone else brings advantages that can improve your chances of success. This post explores why having a co-founder matters and how it can help your startup thrive.

Two co-founders collaborating on startup ideas

Validation

At BreatheHR, there were two us of that forged the initial business and it's direction. This brought so many advantages that I'm not sure where to begin, but perhaps the most important place is validation.

Most founders start their business with a small pot of cash, passion, and idea they think is great. It's a massive advantage if, before you start spending money, designing products, or employing people, the idea is thrashed to within an inch of it's life by someone who is an emotionally as connected to the dream as you are. What you will end up with is a business that doesn't just need you to feed it with energy and passion, because there will be two of you sharing that dream.

This validation continues throughout the growth of your dream. It's great to know there is someone who will tell you gently, if honestly, that your latest hair brained idea is nothing more than that. When that person's eyes light up and they say "I think you're really onto something" then that validation will fuel your drive and determination.

Sharing the workload and skills

One of the biggest benefits of having a co-founder is sharing responsibilities. Starting a business involves many tasks: product development, marketing, finance, customer support, and more. Unfortunately we see too many founders who are, despite having co-founders or even a leadership team, trying to go it alone by retaining far too much decision-making. It's rare for one person to contain the domain knowledge of the industry the business is in, all the technical stills required to design and built a solution, and all the sales and marketing skills to promote and sell your product. Not forgetting all the financial skills required to manage a business and ensure it stays healthy.

Rare as in almost unheard of.

A co-founder brings complementary skills. For example, if you are strong in product design but weak in sales, a co-founder with sales experience can fill that gap. Together, you cover more ground efficiently and make better decisions.

Accountability.

I am a big fan of accountability from day 1. It means that you, and your partner if you have one, can hold each other to account for your own areas of responsibility. For example, before Breathe launched we decided that Jonathan would handle the website and getting prospects warmed up for the launch, and I would oversee the design and build of the product. I would involve Jonathan in product decisions if I felt it was not an obvious decision and I wanted his input, but ultimately he left me to it. During this period I didn't even look at the website. We just stayed in our lanes and then held each to account for delivery.

This means you don't double up on tasks, and the stress is reduced because only 1 of you is worrying about a particularly area of the business. You can cascade this responsibility and accountability through the leadership team as you grow and a team emerges. In reality, the only people that can hold a founder to account is their financial stakeholders, who may very well not be operational, or a partner. Someone that can stand up to them and say "no".

Accountability is so important. Working alone can lead to procrastination or losing focus, even in a driven, passionate founder. A co-founder creates accountability. You set goals together and check in regularly on progress. Knowing someone else depends on your efforts encourages discipline and consistent work. This structure helps maintain momentum and meet deadlines.

Emotional support and motivation

Being a founder is a lonely place. You have a dream shared by no-one else. However, the reality of running a small business is that it's both a delight and a nightmare. It's a delight when you start to see your dream taking shape, and having a business partner means you can say "we did this". You can celebrate each other's successes, something you REALLY need to do if you want to help each other avoid driving off a cliff whilst screaming "annualise this !" Supporting each other in the good times reinforced your vision in your dream and, frankly, feels good !

Running a business is also a nightmare. There will be bad days. No matter how confident you are, or portray yourself, you are going to make some mistakes. Some of mine are fantastic. I once "turned off" Breathe. This did not, as you can image, go down well with anyone. In the early days I made a coding error which resulted in a whole team of people having to manually correct a database over the period of several days so that clients were not impacted, and me subsequently being banned from going near that part of the code by our recently hired Senior Developer. These days you'd need biometric data, multiple passwords and devices, approval from several people and a hand written letter from God just to get near the code never mind change it. The best leaders I have met are those that can shrug off failure and disappointment, and just crack on with the next idea. I was never this confident. Failure always upset me. A business partner enabled me to get past those moments as fast as possible and refocus on the next challenge. This emotional support, whilst perhaps not as widely documented as other advantages is truly critical and something I didn't realise the value of until it was gone.

Healthy conflict accelerates your business

Conflict drives innovation. Not unhealthy conflict. Simply arguing with someone or being angry at them because they have irritated you achieves nothing. However, standing in a room and saying to someone that respects your passion and expertise that you profoundly disagree with their plan will at the least least result in a discussion that irons out that plan. If that discussion is heated, it's probably because BOTH people feel ownership of the dream and feel passionately about it. That's awesome.

Every major piece of functionality in BreatheHR went through the grinder. We did't want to waste a penny on development that we did't need to, and wanted to ensure that what we DID spend was spent on things that would either reduce churn or accelerate growth. With both Jonathan and I willing to die on the hill of the product being simple and easy to understand, and both of us hating the idea of having company values we didn't hold ourselves to those debates could get pretty intense. With Jonathan being a clever, clever man I used to know I had to be at the very top of my game if I wanted to convince him about something I knew was going to be an awkward conversation. But they were always the best of conversations because he likes people that come prepared. Just be careful that it doesn't tip over into actual conflict, which is simply unhealthy and something to avoid. Jonathan had a great idea in this area. During the "forming" stage of the business he added "unmentionables" to the leadership meeting agenda. This is a section for anyone in the meeting to raise, without fear, anything that they would normally be anxious about raising. Everything came out in the open to the point that, some time later, he removed it from the agenda because that healthy conflict was now happening throughout the business as part of the culture and didn't need to be pushed.

Learning and personal growth

Co-founders learn from each other. You gain new skills, insights, and ways of thinking. This growth benefits both your business and your personal development. For example, a technical founder might learn about customer relations from a co-founder with a sales background. This exchange enriches your overall ability to run a successful company.

The importance of this point cannot be overstated. Every founder is on a journey. Jonathan used to say to me that the leader I was this year won't be good enough next year and he ws absolutely bang on. Every leader, if they want to be impactful and effective, must continually drive their own knowledge and leadership skills. Founders even more so. They need to know how to start and run a business, how to manage finances and cash flow, how to sell, how to market, how to understand technology and business tooling. All of that is true before you even get into domain expertise or product design and creation. you won't start learning about how to successfully exit a business until it becomes a future possibility. The journey of learning goes on and on.

A business partner should bring a complementary set of skills. At BreatheHR I knew nothing about sales and marketing, but I knew I could design a product and get it built. I knew that if there a potential risk or opportunity demonstrated in the financials Jonathan would spot it, and likely spot it when many of his peers would not. I learned every day. I learn and then teach Jonathan about various technical areas he neede dto know in order to make informed decisions. Jonathan would teach me the details of financial planning and business management. We learned and taught. Every day.

Increased credibility and trust

Investors, partners, and customers often trust startups with a strong founding team more than solo founders. A co-founder shows that the business has a support system and diverse expertise. This credibility can make it easier to raise funds, form partnerships, and attract early customers. It signals commitment and stability, which are important in the early stages.

Access to a wider network

Each co-founder brings their own professional network. Combining these connections expands opportunities for finding mentors, clients, suppliers, and investors. For example, one co-founder might have contacts in the tech industry, while the other knows marketing professionals. Together, they open doors that would be harder to access alone.

Sharing financial risk and investment

Starting a business often requires personal financial investment and risk. Having a co-founder means sharing these burdens. This can reduce stress and make it easier to invest in necessary resources. It also means you can pool funds to cover initial costs like product development, legal fees, or marketing campaigns, giving your startup a stronger financial foundation.

Building a stronger company culture

From the start, co-founders shape the company’s values and culture. Two founders can create a balanced, inclusive environment that attracts talented employees. A strong culture improves employee satisfaction and retention, which are key to long-term growth. At Breathe our values and culture emerged naturally from who we are, and slowly evolved over time to reflect our personalities, our intentions, and the needs of the company culture.

However, you set the tone. If there are two of you, then you can set a culture when people challenge each other, support each other, check and validate each other, hold each other accountable, and celebrate each other's successes. Not so easy to do that on your own.

So that's it. When I see a company who is assessing me as an advisor, I tend to Breathe (sorry) a big sigh of relief when there are two or more founders. That being said, don't freak out if you are on your own. You can still find someone to hold you to account, support you through the rough times, speed up your education on the things you need to know, and bounce your latest ideas off. Lumo. That's one of the the roles we play for businesses. If you want to know more about that just Get in Touch.