Opinion | The IndiGo war reveals the problems of co-promoters

The ongoing feud between the two founders of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd that runs India’s largest airline IndiGo over issues that many others could have resolved over a glass of Chianti may be a cue for budding entrepreneurs to re-examine the idea of co-promoting new ventures. Conventional wisdom, of course, suggests that what you need when starting up is a team with complementary skills, and every venture capitalist and angel investor has since endorsed that. But a look at co-promoted ventures over the years reveals that co-promoters falling out with each other is a fairly common occurrence, and as the destruction of shareholder wealth in IndiGo shows, it can spell disaster for shareholders.

According to Noam Wasserman, Harvard Business School professor and author of The Founder’s Dilemma, 65% of high-potential startups fail due to co-founders falling out. The reasons range from differences over money, business strategy and leadership style. But equally, the differences get compounded by the very nature of such partnerships.