The new season of FounderMetrics starts with a bang as founder and CEO Ifty Nasir talks with business coach and branding expert Nicki Coe, also known as the “fairy godmother to founders”!
In her conversation with Ifty, Nicky walks us through the key pillars for a successful partnership and what set her on the path to help partnerships succeed.
Check out the main takeaways below, or click here to listen to the full episode.
I’m professionally known as a co-founder coach, though some of my clients jokingly refer to me as their “marriage counsellor” or "couples’ therapist” - a funny but surprisingly accurate description.
My work is centred on helping co-founders and business partners assess and address tension, enhance communication, and align on a shared vision and plan for the business.
Communication, to me, is a foundational pillar of any partnership, and supporting others in mastering it is something I'm deeply passionate about.
Before coaching, I co-founded Luna + Lion, a branding agency that's now been running for nearly five years. That business has continuously fed the creative part of my soul.
When my co-founder Scarlett and I started Luna, it felt essential to do it together. I thrive creatively through collaboration, and our dynamic helped bring the agency to life.
Scarlett had been my boss before we partnered up, so there was already a foundation of professional respect - which, I think, is incredibly helpful in any co-founding relationship.
We launched Luna in March 2020, and after a few years of growth, personal upheavals (the pandemic, breakups, babies, relocations - you name it), and constant evolution, we hit a point where we needed to reset.
We weren’t a new business anymore, and it was time to ask: what’s next? What are our roles now? What do we want from the business, and how do we move forward?
Those conversations were hard. They felt personal, emotional, financial, and existential. I care deeply about Scarlett, our business, and the broader impact I want to make in the world.
I found myself frustrated, struggling to express my intentions clearly. I searched for someone to help facilitate those conversations - someone who truly understood the complexity of the co-founder dynamic - and came up short.
That’s when the seed was planted: what if I could be that expert for others?
I’d already trained as a business coach while working full-time, completing a diploma and coaching alongside running Luna.
Friends and colleagues had occasionally asked if I’d ever thought about working specifically with co-founders, and at the time, I had dismissed the idea. But those comments, as often happens, began to resurface.
I started chatting informally with other co-founders—just over coffee or on calls—and realised there was a real gap. People wanted support in navigating their partnerships but didn’t know where to turn.
So I dug deeper. I conducted a research project, speaking with co-founders I didn’t know personally, and asked about their challenges, highs, and lows, as well as how their relationships had impacted their business journeys.
What became immediately apparent was just how complex co-founder relationships can be.
Research by Dr Noah Wasserman from Harvard Business School found that 65% of high-potential startups fail due to co-founder fallout. That statistic surprised me at first, but the more I spoke with people, the more it rang true. Most weren't shocked by it: they’d seen it happen around them, or lived it themselves.
To me, that number isn’t just a warning: it’s an invitation to start a conversation about how we support these relationships and, crucially, how we make them stronger.
The work I do now falls into three main buckets. First, the deep one-on-one or small team coaching sessions, where we get into the heart of the dynamic.
Second, partnering with incubators, accelerators, and organisations to amplify the message and help more co-founders access this kind of support.
And third, creating accessible resources - free workbooks on everything from finding a co-founder to aligning on vision and responsibilities - which are available on my website.
One of the most important things I try to reinforce is that staying in the business together isn’t necessarily the success metric. Success is about reaching clarity and confidence in your decision - whether that’s staying together or parting ways.
Sometimes, that means guiding teams through a conscious and respectful split. In those cases, my role is to help them reach a decision they believe in, rather than keeping the business together at all costs.
I’ve worked with teams where one person has already emotionally checked out and isn’t sure there’s any point in continuing the conversation. Or where one founder feels isolated, unheard, or even overpowered.
That sense of isolation is something we don’t talk about enough in the startup world - because who do you go to when your business partner becomes your most significant source of stress?
One of the most powerful moments in the coaching process is when someone is simply honest enough to say, “I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.” That kind of honesty is a building block.
It allows us to move forward, one way or another, and avoid making decisions out of resentment or assumption.
Power dynamics are another huge issue. I often see teams where one founder feels like they’ve been swallowed by the other, overwhelmed by their dominance in decisions or direction.
This is where having a neutral third party makes a real difference; it levels the playing field and ensures all voices are heard equally.
There’s still a stigma surrounding the use of outside help, as though doing so implies a lack of trust.
I frame it more like a prenup: it’s not about expecting the worst but committing to doing the work up front to set yourselves up for success.
I encourage co-founders to clarify how they work together: Do you prefer scheduled check-ins or more informal, ad hoc chats? How do you give feedback? What happens when you disagree?
Aligning communication styles and decision-making structures can prevent so many conflicts down the line.
This year, I’m primarily focused on amplifying the conversation around co-founder dynamics with Confessions of a Co-Founder, where people share anonymous questions and real-life challenges.
These stories are messy, emotional, and deeply human. I think they need to be heard.
Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be, and that’s okay. What matters is that the co-founders involved feel confident in the outcome because they’ve done the work to explore it properly. That’s where I come in: not to push one answer over another, but to guide people to their resolution, built on mutual respect and clarity.
Ultimately, a strong co-founder relationship isn’t just beneficial for the business. It’s good for the people building it, too.
You'll find Nicki’s episode and more on all popular podcast platforms. Or watch the interview in full on YouTube - don't forget to like and subscribe!