Klarna, a $7 billion “buy now, pay later” startup with big-name investors including Snoop Dogg, recently experienced a rare public controversy over who sits on its board.
While Klarna's complexity remains unique to the company, the issue highlights that building a startup is not always smooth sailing. Conflict can come from within, with Harvard Business School professor Norm Wasserman claiming that 65% of high-potential startups fail due to conflict between co-founders. There is.
Fortunately, experts have strategies that startup founders can use to deal with conflicts constructively.
Related: How to successfully manage and resolve conflicts within a team
use appropriate language
A report Tuesday in the Harvard Business Review highlighted one strategy leaders can use to avoid miscommunication during situations of conflict or stress. It's about emotionally proofreading your message before sending it.
For example, a Slack message that says “Let's talk” can set the stage for a discussion to become more confrontational. A better message might be, “Your pitch deck went well. Let's talk about how you can improve your product-market fit slide.”
Being aware of your audience, your delivery, and how your message will be received can help nip conflicts in the bud before they start.
How to Agree to Disagree: Create a Founders Agreement
“When everyone agrees all the time, it means everyone thinks the same thing,” Lauren Cohen, professor of finance and entrepreneurial management at Harvard Business School, wrote in the Harvard Business Review. told. “Successful organizations are committed to disagreeing.”
The creation of a founders agreement, a legal document that defines the business relationship between co-founders, includes the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of each founder. This can be an alternative document for dealing with disputes if disagreements get out of hand.
Related: Americans who earn more than $100,000 a year are 'in trouble' with this popular personal finance habit
Use data and markets to make decisions
When two leaders are at odds over something like a product development decision, they can look to user responses and other data points to take a more objective approach to the issue.
Speaking at Harvard Business Review, startup founder coach Mike Freita taught founders about technology adoption, a model that shows how different consumer groups respond to innovative products and technologies. He encouraged them to focus on the curve and seek feedback for decision-making.
“We're seeing far too many pivot decisions because founders let go of the user-centric mindset,” Freitta told the magazine.
