How to Pick the Right Partners for Your Startup: Lessons from a Construction Tech Venture

Today, I want to share a story that taught me more about choosing startup partners than any business book ever could. It's a tale of excitement, red flags, and ultimately, the wisdom to walk away. This isn't just another startup story—it's a survival guide for anyone thinking about setting sail with co-founders.

Charting the course: The right partners can make all the difference in your startup journey.

A Chance Encounter on the Waves

A few months ago, while catching waves off the Tel Aviv coast, I struck up a conversation with a guy I knew from other professional circles. During the session, I shared that I was available for a new technological challenge, eager to build something meaningful that would provide value. He lit up and told me his distant cousin had a brilliant idea for a construction tech startup.

Intrigued, I met the cousin, and we hit the ground running, joined by a third partner in America who was supposed to lead sales and bring customers, maybe even help with fundraising later. The vision was to create an MVP—a minimum viable product—to streamline processes in the construction industry using AI and automation with a cool and impressive interface.

It felt like setting sail with a strong crew and a promising horizon. But as we started building, I noticed cracks in the hull that no amount of enthusiasm could patch.

Building the foundation: The excitement of starting a new venture with partners.

Red Flags on the Horizon

As the CTO, I dove into building the technical foundation, leveraging my experience from the Israeli tech hub to design a FastAPI server and Next.js client for our MVP. But the project's scope began to shift. What started as a lean MVP morphed into a complex algorithm requiring heavy tasks, like offloading computations to separate servers to avoid blocking the main server. This wasn't just scope creep—it was a sign of misaligned priorities and a lack of deep understanding of the "workflow" in the software field.

Then came the meetings with our sales lead from America. He was enthusiastic, showing off tech projects he'd built, but something felt off. His "vibe coding" approach—relying on flashy demos rather than platforms like Loveable or base44 instead of understanding the need for solid architecture—raised my suspicions. In one founders' meeting, he pushed to take control of the product's direction, despite being tasked with sales. It felt like he was leveraging my technical expertise to build something of his own.

Additionally, he dodged signing the founders' agreement for over a month, leaving us in limbo. The final red flag? A strong gut feeling that I couldn't trust them. When arguing about titles and irrelevant legal formalities, it's hard to feel confident. I sensed hidden agendas, unclear motivations, and a lack of transparency. In startups, where the waters are rough and the stakes are high, that's a dealbreaker.

After weeks of unease, I decided to walk away.

Trust is the foundation: Without it, even the strongest partnerships can crumble.

Lessons from the Storm: How to Choose the Right Partners

This experience was a crash course in what makes or breaks a founding team. Here are the key lessons I learned about picking partners for your startup:

1. Trust Is the Anchor

Trust is the number one factor in any partnership. Without it, no amount of talent or vision can keep the ship afloat. From day one, all founders must be open about their goals, strengths, and limitations. If you sense someone's holding back or playing their cards close to the chest, that's a red flag.

In my case, the sales lead's refusal to sign the founders' agreement and his vague contributions screamed distrust. Don't ignore your gut—it's often the first to spot trouble, but it's also important to give enough time and not be hasty—always remember that what takes a year to build with difficulty and sweat can be destroyed in one day easily.

2. Clarity from the Start

Every founder needs a defined role, spelled out clearly from the beginning. Whether you're the CEO, CTO, or CFO, everyone should know their responsibilities and how they contribute to the vision. In our venture, the lack of clear roles led to overlap, confusion, and distrust.

The CFO's push to control the product blurred lines and eroded focus. A simple founders' agreement outlining roles, equity, and decision-making can prevent this chaos.

3. Equity Should Be Fair

I strongly recommend splitting equity evenly among founders, regardless of titles. The CEO isn't inherently more valuable than the CTO or CFO—each role is critical to navigating the startup's challenges. Unless one of the founders brings money or very significant value, I recommend splitting equally. Unequal splits can breed resentment and won't allow the ship to sail to its destination with confidence.

4. Watch for Misaligned Skills and Motives

Partners need complementary skills, but they also need to share the same work ethic and vision. Our CFO's "technical" approach and scattered behavior didn't match the disciplined execution needed for a complex product. His focus on controlling the product rather than bringing sales showed problems with priorities and made me think maybe he doesn't want to bring his customers at all or maybe he doesn't even have customers to bring.

5. Don't Sail with a Leaky Boat

Startups are dynamic, and plans change, but ambiguity and lack of directness are red flags. If you feel uneasy, unclear, or like you're being used, don't ignore it. My mistake was pushing forward despite red flags, hoping things would sort themselves out. They didn't.

Before you set sail, ensure the boat—your founding team—is watertight with trust and clarity and that you're happy with your part, happy with what each one brings to the cockpit.

Navigating the Future

Walking away from this startup was tough, but it was the right call. I'm sure new opportunities will come my way. But I'm wiser now. Choosing partners isn't just about skills or ideas—it's about building a team that trusts each other, communicates openly, and shares the load in a logical and agreed-upon way.

So, whether you're launching a startup or any collaborative venture, take a small tip: don't head out to sea with the wrong team. Drop anchor, clarify roles, split equity fairly, and remember that trust is your North Star. The right partners won't just keep you steady—they'll help you catch the biggest waves.

The future of partnerships: Trust, clarity, and fair collaboration lead to success.