Dr. Matthew Jones is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in working with co-founders to help manage critical conflicts that threaten their success. He is the author of the book, “The Cofounder Effect: How to Diagnose, Fix, and Scale Healthy Communication for Startup Success.”
Matt has worked with hundreds of bootstrapped and VC-funded co-founder teams to help them repair and manage their relationships in the context of their growing business. In this episode, we discuss a wide range of co-founder relationship topics, including:
- Why co-founder alignment sets the floor and ceiling for entire company culture and employee performance.
- How most co-founder conflicts aren’t about surface issues but deeper psychological needs for recognition and power.
- Why research shows companies founded by friends are more unstable than those started by strangers.
- The three communication languages of cofounders: operational (business), psychological (feelings), and archetypal (the vibe).
Quote from Dr. Matthew Jones, a clinical psychologist
“And those differences can start off and be quite positive. If we can manage that tension effectively. That’s the magic of co-founders, right? Is the complementary skills and ways of operating that allows you to land somewhere even more effective than you could have individually.
“But those same differences that give you that magic sauce also can be sources of friction, like an arthritic knee that just aches every now and then, and sometimes gets worse and worse, right? And so that’s where the tensions really have to be managed. And so that’s why I advocate for making those differences as conscious and explicit as possible.”
Links
- Dr. Matthew Jones on LinkedIn
- Cofounder Clarity website
- Book: “The Cofounder Effect: How to Diagnose Fix and Scale Healthy Communication for Startup Success”
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