What To Look For In A Co-Founder, Or Opposites Attract—Founder Friday
Chris Ciabarra, CTO of Revel Systems on how he met his co-founder, Revel CEO Lisa Falzone:
“I met my co-founder, Lisa Falzone, when searching the Internet for an Einstein quote—’Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.’ I found the quote on Lisa’s blog about inspirational ideas, ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.’ We got to talking, and both recognized a gap in the market for an efficient and cost-effective iPad POS app.
What I look for in a co-founder—and have successfully found—is everything I don’t have. I need the exact opposite of myself—a person whose qualities complement my deficiencies, and vice versa. Some people make the mistake of searching for a co-founder just like themselves. No one’s perfect, so your co-founder needs to be able to fill any gaps that you might have.”
Revel was built from the ground up with the same enthusiasm that led Chris to the Einstein quote, and that led Lisa to post it in the first place. Their foundation is the innovative, and, at the time, unthought of use for technology--turning the Apple iPad into a point of sale tool. Chris and Lisa sought to provide a much needed need for businesses--an efficient and cost-effective point of sale system that drew on the power of the iPad.
Chris is the technical visionary and Lisa is the business visionary, which was the perfect combination to get Revel Systems up and running. Revel, now in its third year, has hit profitability, garnered funding, and is installed in thousands of businesses across the world.
Choosing the right business partner as as entrepreneur doesn't mean choosing someone who agrees with you, but rather someone whose skill set fills in the gaps. So what does your ideal co-founder/business partner look like?
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