You Can't Build a Plane to Sail. (But Most Co-Founders Try.)

I had a co-founder for 10 years. Here's what I wish someone had told me in year 1:

As founders, we create companies in terms of vision.

If you want to fly, you build an airplane. If you want to sail, you build a boat.

But if you and your co-founder don't agree on what you're building from the start?

You might end up building a plane to sail. And you will drown.

You'll have lost resources, money, and energy. Your team won't know who to trust or which direction to follow.

Lacking direction is a problem you need to solve in year 1.

Here's the HARD truth: Co-founder misalignment is like trying to set your GPS to go both north and south at the same time.

It doesn't work. And it destroys everything in the process.

The 3 Co-Founder Conflicts That Kill Companies

Over 10 years with my co-founder, I learned that most partnership explosions come down to three core conflicts:

1. Vision Mismatch 2. Product Priority Battles 3. Equity Wars

Let me break down each one and how to solve them before they destroy your company.

Conflict #1: Vision Mismatch (The GPS Problem)

What it means:

You want to build a race car. Your co-founder wants to build a sailboat.

You can't want to go north and south. You can't set up a GPS to go both ways. When you can't explain your direction clearly to your team, they feel lost and don't know who to trust.

This affects everything: strategy, hiring, product decisions, resource allocation.

Why it happens:

The universal law of nature is impermanence. Everything changes.

The company changes. The context changes. You change. Your co-founder changes.

Just because you were aligned in the beginning doesn't mean you'll be aligned in the future, especially when you don't have communication tools.

Co-founders who don't talk regularly drift apart without realizing it.

How to solve it:

Use a Vision to Traction Organizer (V-TO). This forces you to:

• Agree on the long-term vision (3-year picture of where you want to be)
• Define how to execute that vision together
• Set 3-7 clear, measurable priorities per quarter that drive you toward that goal
• Have a Level-10, 90 min weekly Directors meeting to align and solve problems together.

Spend as much time as needed to get that vision nailed down.

Then schedule Vision Alignment Meetings every quarter to review this document and analyze your traction.

Think of it like a marriage: Here's the brutal truth: You'll potentially spend more time with your co-founder than your spouse. You'll make more important decisions together. You'll face maybe even more stress together.

Yet most co-founders spend less time on their partnership than people spend planning a wedding.

Successful co-founder relationships require the same intentionality as successful marriages: regular check-ins about how things are going, clear communication about expectations and concerns, conflict resolution systems for when disagreements arise, shared values about what matters most, and individual growth that strengthens the partnership.

As I always say: If you think having difficult conversations is hard, wait until you don't have them.

Conflict #2: Product Priority Battles (The Resource War)

What it means:

You're not aligned on how to move the company forward.

Traction is the means to the vision. You're organizing your resources to go left or right, but you can't agree on which direction serves the vision better.

You move the whole company toward one priority or another. If co-founders disagree, you're splitting focus and resources.

Why it happens:

Setting the right priorities is one of the most difficult tasks in business.

Most of the time, we're not connected with what happens in the market and with users. We're not sure about what the customer actually wants.

We're guessing instead of knowing.

How to solve it:

Stop guessing. Start getting feedback directly from the source.

• Schedule regular power user / important customer calls
• Talk to your users about what they actually need, continuously
• Use data to drive priority decisions, not opinions

When you have real customer feedback, priority battles become discussions about data about what users WANT, not ego fights about ideas.

Conflict #3: Equity Wars (The Value Recognition Problem)

What it means:

You don't agree on equity distribution. Incentives aren't aligned.

One or both co-founders think the value they bring to the company isn't reflected in the equity they have.

This creates resentment that poisons everything else.

Why it happens:

Things change. You agree on equity splits in the beginning, but after years of extreme execution, you start to see differences.

Maybe one person is working harder, being more consistent, or bringing more value than originally anticipated.

The problem compounds when these concerns aren't discussed openly.

How to solve it:

Write it down at the beginning. Document equity agreements and the reasoning behind them.

Have uncomfortable conversations early. Trust that whoever brings up equity concerns has good intentions.

There's always a chance to build a strategy to compensate for performance differences. They're looking for incentives that match their contribution. It's a real concern.

Here's my biggest mistake: Trusting that friendships meant we'd always work things out. Assuming my co-founder would think the same way I did.

Time and context change people. Don't mix business and friendship unless you have ironclad agreements in writing.

The System That Saved My Partnership

What saved us was structure. A simple system to align our vision, set measurable priorities, and stop building a plane to sail.

Most importantly: TALK to each other.

You don't feel this is the right direction anymore? Say it.

Don't start splitting efforts out of the blue. Adjust that vision together or part ways.

The Hard Conversation Framework

Here's how to have the conversations most co-founders avoid:

Vision Reality Check: "Based on our last quarter's results, are we still building the right thing? What would we change?"

Resource Allocation: "Looking at where we spent time and money, are we prioritizing correctly? What should we stop doing?"

Contribution Assessment: "How do you feel about the workload balance? Are there areas where one of us should step up or back?"

These aren't annual conversations. Have them monthly, before small misalignments become major conflicts.

Final Reality Check

No one teaches you this early on, but here's the truth:

If you're not 100% aligned on what you're building, you'll waste time, money, and team morale chasing two different visions.

You better have a company flying high and sailing far than have a stock full of broken boats and airplanes taking you nowhere.

Structure saves partnerships. Communication prevents conflicts. Documentation protects everyone.

Stop making costly business decisions based on guesswork.

Start with a free 45-minute Clarity Call where we’ll break down:

• Where you are now vs. where you want to be

• The biggest bottlenecks holding back growth

• What frameworks and systems will help you scale without burning out

You’ll walk away with a solid scaling plan. Whether or not you join the program.

If there’s a strong fit, you may be invited to join Founder Accelerator Group. An expert-led coaching cohort for founders scaling from $250K to $3M. Only 10 founders are accepted per cohort.

Inside, we work hands-on to:

• Set and hit quarterly goals

• Solve execution challenges in real time with tactical coaching

• Get direct daily support from me and a tight-knit group of founders

• Use personalized dashboards and frameworks that prevent costly mistakes
  

→ Book your free Clarity Call

Stop building planes to sail. Start building what actually works.

- Ignacio

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