2) It’ll Teach You What to Look for in a Cofounder

In Paul Graham’s essay on why startups fail, he states that,

“Fights between founders are surprisingly common. About 20% of the startups we’ve funded have had a founder leave. It happens so often that we’ve reversed our attitude to vesting.”

If you and a potential cofounder are really serious about creating a business together, get started now. Even if you’re not working on your master idea, start doing something that is high stress, requires long hours, and tests your dedication. It’s not uncommon to hear of two friends who spend a lot of time on planning out the perfect idea, but break up soon after they actually start.

Particletree was the perfect testing ground for us because it was originally a low risk project that tested how well we worked with one another. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve always taken Particletree seriously, but the servers could have easily been turned off without affecting too many people if our personalities clashed. The three of us were all good friends before going into business, but friends don’t always make the best of business partners.

二、它将教会你如何寻找创业伙伴

在Paul Graham的短文《创业为何失败》（Why Startups Fail）中，他说：

“创业伙伴之间的内讧极其普遍。我们投资的对象中，大约20%的公司都有创始人离开。这种情况如此频繁，以致我们转变了投资的态度。”

如果你和你的伙伴是非常认真的想干一番事业，那就开始干吧。即使不以你的想法为中心，即使压力重重，即使需要很长时间，即使会考验你的奉献精神…… 两个朋友耗费多时精心筹划了一个完美的想法，却在开始创业后分道扬镳——这种事情并不少见。（因此应该尽早的开始创业，期间考察创业伙伴，以避免这种情况。）

Particletree（htmlor注：作者三人共同创立的第一个网站）就是块很好的试验田：初期它风险很低，可以先考验考验我们共同工作的情况（别误会，我们对Particletree的态度始终是认真的）。一旦我们发觉彼此个性冲突（无法继续合作），会很容易停掉服务，也不至于影响太多人。虽然我们三个在创业之前就是好朋友，可好朋友并不一定就是最好的商业伙伴。