5 things I've learnt about being a Co-founder

As Disruptive celebrates its 5th birthday this year, we’ve been reflecting on what makes us us, the highs and lows of the last 5 years and where we want to go next. In the first of our 5th birthday blogs, Co-founder Amy Wilkinson shares some of the things she’s learnt from building a business with someone else, and how to make sure it works out.

1) If you’re young and female, people tend to assume you’re an employee and not a founder

While I’m not sure I’d count myself in the ‘young’ bracket anymore, starting a business with a slightly older male counterpart meant that assumptions were instantly made about my role in the company. My feeling is that while sexism and ageism definitely played a part in this - I also had to think about what I could do differently to battle the stereotyping. I thought about my confidence levels in how I present myself to others in a work context. Imposter syndrome is a very real thing - and when you’re up against these kinds of assumptions it can be tough to mentally overcome them.

2) Your co-founder is an important person in your life - treat them with care, kindness and respect

This links to personal as well as professional values. Be kind to those around you, listen to what they have to say and be open if they disagree with you. This is core to how we treat each other and our clients at Disruptive, and extends to our leadership team too. Yes, sometimes I need to take a deep breath and not get sweary (it happens to us all, right?) - but ultimately maintaining a good co-founder relationship, working on your communication skills and supporting each other through the bad times and good has meant Yiuwin & I not only have a 7-year strong working relationship but a solid friendship too.

3) Bring up the bad stuff right away, don’t let it fester

It’s so much easier to have a potentially negative conversation early on, rather than risking things getting worse. This happened to me when I returned from maternity leave - I wanted to reduce my hours, meaning we had some tricky conversations about how to keep things fair (such as income) between co-founders while maintaining a new business pipeline along with delivering a raft of existing projects. Having this conversation early meant we could come up with a solution together, and it felt great to have the support early on rather than doing some solo worrying about what it meant for the business.

4) You might not always agree, and that’s ok

I’m a control freak, so working with somebody who quite often has a different point of view to me has been a real learning curve. Working on my listening skills along with trying to relax that inner control freak demon, has meant that when disagreements do occur we can logically talk through our options without being too precious. And ultimately I think the best solutions do come out of having these disagreements - we started a business together because we bring different things to the table, and it’s important to continue to respect that.

5) Shared values isn’t just a wanky marketing term

I mentioned values earlier, but it’s been so important for me to work with a co-founder whose values match with mine. Prioritising things like mental health, family, well-being and inclusivity have always been incredibly important to us both. These shared values have to be there from Day One. You need to want to get the same things out of the business, as at your core this is what will motivate and drive your business to grow.