UzCombinator
UZ
EN
Startup School
Curriculum0/19
Module 1
Idea and problem
  1. 1What a startup is, and how it differs from a small business4 min
  2. 2Finding a real problem4 min
  3. 3Judging an idea: market, timing and team4 min
  4. 4Co-founders and the team4 min
Module 2
Customers and validation
  1. 5How to run a customer interview5 min
  2. 6Who your first users are4 min
  3. 7Testing demand cheaply5 min
Module 3
Building the MVP
  1. 8What an MVP is, and what it is not4 min
  2. 9Building fast: code, no-code and ready-made tools4 min
  3. 10Launching and collecting feedback4 min
  4. 11Signs of product-market fit4 min
Module 4
Growth and metrics
  1. 12Choosing the metric that matters4 min
  2. 13Unit economics: CAC, LTV and margin4 min
  3. 14Your first growth channels4 min
  4. 15Keeping your users4 min
Module 5
Fundraising and pitching
  1. 16Do you need funding? Stages and sources4 min
  2. 17Building a pitch deck4 min
  3. 18Meeting investors4 min
  4. 19Terms and valuation basics4 min
Module 1Lesson 44 min

Co-founders and the team

Idea and problem
Who to start with, how to split roles and equity, and how to head off disagreements in the team.
You can start a company alone, but it is very hard. There is a lot of work, a lot of decisions, and some bad days are guaranteed. A good co-founder shares the load, sees mistakes you miss and keeps you going when everything seems to be going wrong. Many investors also prefer to back teams, although solo founders have succeeded too.
Choosing a co-founder is one of the most important decisions in the company. Do not rush it.

Who to choose

  • Someone you have worked with under pressure. A university project, a previous job or a hackathon shows you how a person behaves when things get hard.
  • Someone whose values are close to yours: about money, time and ambition. If one of you wants fast growth and the other wants a calm life, conflict is inevitable.
  • Someone whose skills complement yours. The classic pair is one person who builds the product and one who sells it. Two programmers often put off selling; two salespeople end up without a product.
In Uzbekistan people often start with a friend or a relative. That can work well: you trust each other. But that is exactly why discussing the hard questions early matters even more, because a business disagreement can damage a friendship or a family relationship too.

How to split equity

Founders who start together and commit full-time usually split the equity equally or close to it. Do not create big differences because of who said the idea first: ideas are cheap, and making them work takes years. Almost all of the company's value comes from work that is still ahead.
An important concept is vesting. It means earning your shares over time: a founder does not receive their stake all at once, but over several years. There is usually an initial period called a "cliff", and someone who leaves before it ends gets no shares. Vesting protects the company from a co-founder who leaves after a few months but takes a large stake with them. How to formalise this in Uzbekistan, for example through the company charter or an agreement between the participants, is a legal question. Be sure to discuss it with a lawyer.

Roles and decisions

Agree clearly who decides on product, on money and on hiring. Knowing who has the final word in each area speeds up arguments. Even in a team with equal shares, one person, usually the CEO, has to make the final call when you disagree. Otherwise the company stalls on its most important decisions.

Hard questions to discuss now

  • How much time will each of us put in per week? When will we leave our current jobs?
  • When do we expect to draw a salary, and how much? What family obligations do we have?
  • What happens if one of us wants to leave? What do we do with their shares?
  • How will we decide if someone offers to buy the company?
  • If we cannot agree, how do we resolve it?
This conversation may feel awkward. But having it now, while things are good, is far easier than having it later, when things have gone wrong.

First employees

Hire slowly. Your first employees should be people who can do many different things and are not afraid of uncertainty. In Tashkent you can look for developers through professional communities, universities, Telegram channels and personal introductions. Working with a part-time or project-based specialist at first, instead of a full-time hire, reduces the risk.
If you promise an employee shares instead of salary, or on top of it, do not leave it as a verbal agreement. Check with a lawyer and an accountant how to formalise it and what the tax consequences are.

Warning signs

  • A co-founder asks for an equal share but is not ready to commit full-time.
  • They avoid hard topics or keep saying "we'll sort it out later".
  • They disappear for days without warning.
  • They are not transparent about money.
If you see signs like these, talk openly before you sign anything formal. Parting early is much cheaper than parting late.

Try this

Sit down with your co-founder and write down your answers to the hard questions above. Read each other's answers and record what you agree on. You will come back to these notes when you formalise the company's documents.