Klarna, the $7 billion “buy now, pay later” startup with celebrity investors like Snoop Dogg, recently experienced a rare public dispute over who would serve on its board of directors.
While Klarna’s complexities remain unique to that company, the issue highlights that building a startup isn’t always an easy task. Conflict can arise from within – and Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman claims that 65% of high-potential startups fail due to conflicts between co-founders.
Fortunately, experts have strategies that startup founders can use to deal with conflict constructively.
Related: How to successfully manage and resolve conflicts in your team
Use the right language
A Tuesday report from the Harvard Business Review highlighted a strategy leaders can use to avoid communication problems in times of conflict and stress: emotionally proofread messages before sending them.
For example, a message that says “Let’s talk” in a Slack message could set the stage for approaching a discussion in a more confrontational way. A better message might be: “Great job with the presentation, let’s talk about refining the product-market fit slide.”
Being aware of your audience, how you convey yourself, and how your message might be received will help nip conflict in the bud before it begins.
Agree on how to disagree: Create an agreement with the founder
“If everyone always agrees, that means everyone thinks the same way,” Lauren Cohen, professor of finance and entrepreneurial management at Harvard Business School, told Harvard Business Review. “Successful organizations are committed to disagreeing.”
Creating a founder agreement, a legal document that defines the business relationship between cofounders, will include the rights, responsibilities and obligations of each founder. This can be a fallback document to address conflicts if disagreements get out of hand.
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Use data and the market to make decisions
When two leaders are in conflict over something like a product development decision, they can turn to user response and other data to take a more objective approach to the problem.
Mike Freitta, a startup founder coach who spoke to Harvard Business Review, urged founders to look at the technology adoption curve, a model that shows how different groups of consumers react to innovative products and technologies, and to seek feedback to take decisions.
“There are so many decisions that go sideways because founders abandon the user-centric mindset,” Freitta told the outlet.