Ep 1.1 • From Childhood Friends to Co-Founders | BuildBetter AI’s Spencer (CEO) & Nikhil (CTO)

2024-01-15

Brought to you by Confidante, preventing the co-founder conflicts that kill 65% of startups. Learn more at www.confidante.info. — Spencer Shulem, Nikhil Shinday, and Adam Stanford are co-founders of BuildBetter. After a decade working in and around startups, Spencer and Adam started BuildBetter in 2020. Soon after, Spencer brought in his childhood friend, Nikhil, as a third co-founder and CTO. Since then, they’ve secured millions in funding from leading investors like Wing, Tidal, Surf...

Brought to you by Confidante, preventing the co-founder conflicts that kill 65% of startups. Learn more at www.confidante.info.

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Spencer Shulem, Nikhil Shinday, and Adam Stanford are co-founders of BuildBetter.

After a decade working in and around startups, Spencer and Adam started BuildBetter in 2020. Soon after, Spencer brought in his childhood friend, Nikhil, as a third co-founder and CTO. Since then, they’ve secured millions in funding from leading investors like Wing, Tidal, Surface, Village Global, and OnDeck, and Telegraph Hill Capital and made thousands of product teams around the globe more efficient.

But those are the only business stats you’ll see today. Instead, our conversation with Spencer and Nikhil focuses exclusively on the relational-side of venture building: the co-founder relationship. How did trust and respect evolve? Who owns what in the company? What's the essence of being a co-founder? And of course, what are the juiciest conflicts and how are they resolved?

In our conversation, we discuss:

• When is it right to found a company with a close friend - the risks and the rewards

• Adding a third co-founder to an existing founding team and build equal trust

• The benefits of a co-founder relationship coach

• How they managed one of the team’s biggest disagreements

• What it means to be a co-founder (at BuildBetter)

• How to have fun while building a business (e.g., using memes in Slack to define roles)

Some takeaways:

Not all close friends will make great co-founders - think carefully about who you work with - as Spencer says, “you're spending your life with these people, even more time than you would with your spouse” (Searching for a co-founder? See: “Finding the One and Lasting” article for tips)
Conflict (when done respectfully) can be one of the greatest form of intimacy and a sign of trust building up. People often share their honest opinion only when they know it will be treated with respect
It’s easier to have hard conversations when they are scheduled and facilitated (especially early on). Regular relationship check ins can help the team surface disagreements and create “Co-Founder Maps” (see: “Sound Relationship House for Co-Founders” article)
Take responsibility for your function, but also lean on your co-founders. You should respect your founding team enough that you *want* to use them as a sounding board, if not take a deeper look at if they’re the right fit
The expectations of a “co-founder” are subjective. Spend time defining what the co-founder role means to you; how do you want to be supported not only functionally (skillsets-wise), but also socially (as a leader, decision maker) and emotionally (during the ups and downs)?

Listen now on Spotify / Apple / YouTube / Google / Pod Website.

Where to find Spencer, Nikhil & BuildBetter:

• BuildBetter (buildbetter.ai): The product ops assistant that turns untapped data —like call recordings— into your company’s most valuable deliverables • twitter.com/BuildBetterAI • linkedin.com/company/71029926 • dribbble.com/BuildBetterApp

• Spencer, CEO & Co-Founder: linkedin.com/in/spshulem

• Nikhil, CTO & Co-Founder: twitter.com/nikhillin_it • linkedin.com/in/nikhil-shinday-24255266

Where to find Annie Garofalo, host & startup team relationship expert:

Website: confidante.info • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annie-garofalo/• Newsletter: confidante.substack.com • X: twitter.com/anniegarofal0 • Instagram: instagram.com/thecofounderconfidante • TikTok: tiktok.com/@the.cofounder.confidante

In this episode, we cover: