Rodrigo Barros, CEO of Hands-On TV, chose cofounders by prioritizing shared values over skills. He built a six-year relationship with a Salad Creations founder through soccer and advisory work, eventually earning a 3-fold return. His CTO Martin Speer spent months building trust through family visits before joining, proving that aligned values create durable partnerships.
Chapters
First of all, the Salad Creations business, okay, our food chain. I was playing soccer since 2007 with the founder of Salad in Brazil. Soccer. So once a week we got together, we played some soccer, you know, we were there, we got off the game, we had some beer, he goes home, I go home. One year, 2 years. 3 years. 3 years, 4 years, 5 years. Then 2012, we went together to Chicago to a fair. And then he was in the fair and for the first time in his life, he really shared his pains with me about the company. And then I went to him and say, you know, I think you should do this, you should do that, you should go for this direction, you should go for that direction. And he was like, oh, that's great. So we kept talking about the company more than we used to do before. So 2013 came. I did a— to be in a board sitting in corporations, like I am, I'm part of a board sitting of the largest chair, armchair company in Brazil. We do like 50,000 chairs per month and so on. So to be in this board chair, you need to do a course. It's a specific course to be in this. OK? So I did this course. Once I did the course, he knew it. And he came to me and said, hey, you know what? You should be on our board member as well. But unfortunately, I can't pay you because the company don't have the money that we should to pay you. I said, OK, no problem. I will give you value. Okay? I decided for every month go and spend 2 hours of my month, sometimes 4 hours of my month to be with them in this company, to be with them in this board. The end of 2013 after I was here, one of the times that I went to Brazil, he came to me and say, please become our partner. I'm talking about 6 years of relationship. I'm talking about more than a year giving 2 or 4 hours of my day for him and for the company. Was I thinking about becoming his partner? No. But I did. And by the way, it was a great opportunity. If I talk about the money I invest, the money I have right now, It tripled like in a year and a half. Okay, so great for me as a financing thing, but remember, I gave value before and then I became his partner. I don't believe today, right here, right now, you meet somebody and say, let's be a co-founder, because co-founders need to believe in the same thing first of all, and second, needs to have The same values. Even if you have different skills, if you even if you have different talent than I do, we need to share values. Okay? Let's say you come to me and say, "Yo, I don't give a fuck about my family. My dad is stupid. I won't have a wife. I don't care about blah blah blah." You will never be my partner. Never. Because the first thing I carry in life is my family. Okay? So this is really easy for me. And even I have 5— 9 partners and 5 only in solid, like me plus 4. So even I have 9 partners, they're all different than me. They share the same values and they share the same beliefs in the company we're together on. So the purpose of each company is the same for each one of us. And our values are the same. This is really strong for me. Now I'm going to talk about Martin Speer, our CTO from Hands-On TV. I got to know Martin and we talked for 3 months. I went to visit his house. He went to visit my house. He got to know my wife. I got to know his wife. So he shared my first value, which is family. Okay? Then we go for other values. Okay? And he shared the same values. Even he's a great and so smart nerd and I'm an EQ guy. Okay? But we share the same thing. And he believed in entrepreneurship mindset. He believed in Hands-On TV. And that's important. So that's the way it worked for me. And I think when you think about those 2 things, We believe in the same thing and we share the same values. I think it can move on.
