Short answer: a founding pair does not last because it avoids disagreement, it lasts because it anticipates disagreement. The advice comes down to three points: choose someone complementary rather than a clone, keep clearly separate domains, and trust each other inside them. AlibeeZ has been run by the same pair since 2014.

The short version

  • The base: mutual respect, and being able to count on each other.
  • The useful similarity: close characters, but each with their own working style.
  • The quality named: perseverance.
  • The mechanism: no serious disagreements, not through avoidance but through anticipation.
  • The advice: pick a complement, not a clone; hold your own domains; listen, argue, and trust each other.

Anticipating is not avoiding

That is the densest line in the video, and the most counter-intuitive. A pair that never has a conflict is usually a pair in which someone gives way in silence, and that always gets paid for eventually. A pair that anticipates does the opposite: it handles the question before it becomes an arbitration, which is to say before it has a winner and a loser.

In practice that means the structural subjects get discussed while they are still theoretical (hiring pace, pricing policy, the limits of a client commitment) rather than on the day a decision is due. The price is time spent talking about things that are not urgent, which is exactly what a founder under an invisible load no longer has, as the video on founder solitude points out.

Separate domains, rather than permanent joint decisions

"Hold your own domains" is an organisational rule as much as relationship advice. Two founders who decide everything jointly create a bottleneck on every subject, including the ones where one of them adds nothing. The AlibeeZ split is a simple example: technical architecture on one side, operational and financial experience on the other: see Why AlibeeZ.

The complementarity being sought is therefore not a matter of temperament. It is a matter of coverage: two people who can do the same thing double the depth on one subject and leave everything else without an owner.

Video transcript

Full transcript, translated from the French and lightly tidied for reading.

When Frédéric and I started AlibeeZ, people often asked us: how do you manage to work together for so long? Well, it is fairly simple: first, we respect each other, we can count on each other, and we are glad to work together.

Our characters are alike, but we each keep our own style: we are hard workers and we like work done properly. Our greatest quality: perseverance. The funny thing is that we have never had a serious disagreement, not because we avoid awkward subjects, but because we anticipate a great deal.

If I had one piece of advice for someone who wants to found a company as a pair, it would be to choose someone complementary, not necessarily a clone. Hold your own domains, listen to each other, argue, and above all trust each other.

Frequently asked questions

Should you choose a co-founder who is like you?

On values and attitude to work, yes; on skills, no. The advice in the video is to choose someone complementary rather than a clone: two people strong in the same area leave the rest of the business without an owner.

How do you avoid conflict between co-founders?

By handling structural subjects before they turn into arbitrations. A disagreement discussed while it is still theoretical has no winner and no loser; the same disagreement settled on the day a decision is due always has both.

How should two founders divide the roles?

Into clearly assigned domains, with real delegation inside each. Deciding everything together looks prudent but creates a bottleneck on every subject, including the ones where one of the two adds nothing.