You might be great friends, great colleagues, or even great life partners.

But will you be great cofounders?

Successfully launching a start-up requires more than a great relationship.  It requires a shared vision.  So you need to have a DMC with your cofounders about the wide range of issues and scenarios your company may face and how you think you’ll handle them.

And you’ll be a lot better off uncovering and discussing significant differences in those visions now than a year or two into your start-up, under stresses and pressures that may force an unhappy resolution.

So we’ve created (with the help of the UPenn Law Entrepreneurship Clinic) a list of important questions that potential cofounders should think about and discuss with each other.  Here’s a link.

Grab some dinner, bring the list, and spend a few hours understanding each others’ visions.  Keep open ears and an open mind, and be ready to memorialize any resolutions to important issues.