Apples Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak. Next to Walt Disney was his brother Roy. At the cradle of Google were Larry Page as well as Sergey Brin. Bill Gates surrounded himself with Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer, among others. Just to say: the largest and most successful companies in the world - even though it sometimes seems that way - have never been a one-man show.

After all, starting your own business and growing it into a success is hard work: sleepless nights, endless days, making choices and knots, falling down, getting up again, and working some more on the dream. Most startup entrepreneurs can turn to friends and family with their besognes, and their support and advice can often work wonders. Yet for every ambitious entrepreneur, there comes a time when the support of those around you is no longer enough and you need to surround yourself with the right people within the company. People with abilities and knowledge that you don't have yourself. People who are complementary to you and have the same goal in mind. 

The latter is very important. It is essential that the people you surround yourself with share your vision and principles. Your dream. In the words of Simon Sinek, at the level of why, you must be on the same page. More importantly than their abilities and skills - you can learn those - they must share your passion. Then you know they are going for it as hard as you are.

Start with yourself

Before you can look for those people, you have to decide very carefully for yourself what the basic principles of your business are. What kind of company do you want to build? What values do you consider important? Regardless of your product or service, what do you want to focus on? When you are clear about the values and principles you want to pursue and when you have clarified your vision, you can use it as a guideline in your search for the right people.

However, don't be too strict about it: as your company grows, perhaps the vision changes or values are added. Be flexible enough to adapt your value spectrum to changing circumstances. 

Don't pin yourself down on degrees

During your search for the right people, it's important that you don't fixate on finding the person with the best qualifications and highest degrees. Sure, surrounding yourself with the right skills is important, so the person you are looking for should have the right abilities. However, the right mindset is all the more important. Above all, you must be able to work very well together. You are in the early days of your business and your company's identity is still developing. This is the time when you start to develop your corporate culture and so you need people with personality. And preferably one that matches yours.

You won't find the latter in a resume or in a LinkedIn profile, but you will discover it by talking to potential partners. Expand your network, invite people over for an informal cup of coffee. You'll quickly find out if you're on the same page or not.

Good luck.