Running away from my co-founder was the best business decision I have made this is why | Entrepreneur

On a recent work trip and unable to sleep, I flashed through the channels when I met Late Night with Seth MeyersThat night happened to interview the former host of the show, the legendary Conan O’Brien. As a fan of De Lange, Goofy comedian, I paused my channel surfing just in time to hear him share with Meyers the philosophy that led him during his incredibly long and successful career:

“There is a gigantic orchestra, there is a lot of noise and I just bang on my triangle. Does anyone even hear me?” says O’Brien. “And this sounds crazy, it’s a Buddhist idea. But if you just stay true to what you believe in, and you keep doing it with goal, eventually they will hear the triangle alone.”

When I heard this, I was immediately returned to the early days of starting my company, Jotform.

I am now a proud solo founder, but that was not always the plan. In fact, I was actually planning to start a company with a good friend. He was 10 years older than me, he was more experienced and we had spoken endlessly about launching a company together. We had a verbal agreement: 50/50 partners. No egos – only mutual trust and a shared dream.

But when the time finally came to take the leap, everything changed. He told me that someone had advised him to take 51%. That one person always had to be ‘the management’. It was not a suggestion – it was an ultimatum.

I didn’t even hesitate. I walked away.

It was one of the most difficult decisions I made as an entrepreneur. But it was also the best. This is why.

Related: The Professional BreakUp-Hoe to expel a co-founder legally and smoothly

The power to hold on to your principles

Walking away from that partnership was difficult – not only as an entrepreneur, but as a person. It was not just a business split; It was the unraveling of a shared vision, years in the making. I was suddenly alone, without a partner to lean on and nobody to share the weight of what I was going to build.

Conventional wisdom is of the opinion that co-founders are needed to survive a startup. The establishment of a company Solo is a ‘voice of no trust’, the computer scientist and entrepreneur Paul Graham written In 2006. “It probably means that the founder could not talk to his friends to start the company with him,” he said. “That is quite alarming, because his friends are the ones who know him the best.”

Yikes. I don’t really think that advice once had a lot of water, and with the rise of automation and AI I am firmly convinced that you need a fellow founder less than ever. Nevertheless, the fact that startups will continue to test your determination in a thousand small ways, and the limits you set in those early days become your basis. When that foundation has cracked, the pressure will only make it worse.

That decision has also taught me something essential: sticking to your principles does not always feel like a victory at the moment. In fact, it often feels like a loss of opportunities, momentum and connection. But over time, the costs of compromising what you want are much greater.

Related: The 9 leadership principles that brought me from the sidelines to the suite

Identify your values ​​early

The split into partnership was not the only disagreement that my co-founder and I had. We also did not notice in the direction that the company would go. While planning our company it became clear that we had developed different visions – he wanted to consult for other companies; I wanted to build something new. His vision didn’t fascinate me and mine didn’t fascinate him. One of us should ultimately compromise that we didn’t like.

So, as depressed as I was in the dissolution of our plan, I also felt a sense of relief. When you start a company, there are so many forces that threaten to derail your vision. That is why it is so useful to define your values ​​early-the non-negotiable parts that form the foundation of your company and your motivation to build it. I love the advice offered by career coach Irina Cozma, who writes in Harvard Business Review That clarifying your values ​​costs both conscious effort and time.

“Depending on your journey, your values ​​can remain constant or may change over time based on new events and information,” Cozma wrote. Take you every year to ensure that what was once important to you is still. And if that is not the case, don’t be afraid to evaluate again.

Knowing my values ​​led me through some of my most confusing challenges, such as how to grow, when I have to hire and which products I have to build. They kept me on course and away from the temptation of external investments or opportunities that the company would ultimately not serve. The splitting with my fellow founder gave me the chance to determine what mattered early, and the blueprint for how I built the company I have today.

If you know what you stand for, the decision -making will become a lot easier. Perhaps you still put your triangle in a noisy orchestra – but you do it with clarity, goal and the confidence that your sound will eventually cut.