[mikecarroll]

Seems that a lot of the advantages cited as coming from the co-founders having overlapping skills in this post could just as easily (and better) be explained as deriving from all the experiences of past startup failures the author mentions.

Maybe I'm just missing something, but something critical like keeping strategic conversations focused, intellectually honest, and positive seems to have less to do with the founder skill sets (and the amount of overlap in them) than it has to do with personality, previous startup experience, and having pre-aligned expectations.

[SaintSal]

It might seem that way in theory, but things like intellectual honesty and focused strategic conversations are easier said than done. At the time, we spotted these problems but addressing them was difficult and it often seemed the way forward was to plow through.

My lesson learned here isn't too just be intelectually honest more or just have more focused conversations. I've found that in practice its the empathy of having walked the same path as my cofounder that makes the effeciencies possible, easier and even sometimes natural. And the rivalry dynamic has become more useful and healthier.