Choose a task that teaches you about collaboration
Pick one uncertain problem and one output you can review. Keep the scope small enough that both people can finish their contribution with the time they actually have. A trial does not need a complete app or a polished pitch deck.
Product + engineering
Map one customer task, make a small prototype and collect feedback on that task.
Engineering + business
Test one customer assumption together and decide what evidence would change the product plan.
Operations + product
Map a real delivery process, choose one failure point and test a simpler workflow.
Do not make access to production credentials, private customer records or a large unpaid deliverable the price of a first introduction.
Write down the working agreement
- Question: what are we trying to learn?
- Output: what will we review at the end?
- Contribution: what will each person own?
- Time: how many hours are actually available?
- Check-ins: how will we surface a delay or disagreement?
- Boundaries: what information, costs and existing work stay outside the trial?
- Review: when will we decide whether to continue?
Clarify how any trial output may be used, rather than assuming that a short collaboration settles ownership. Use qualified advice before entering a formal agreement. This planning guide is not a contract.
A flexible first-week rhythm
- Day 1: agree the question. Write one shared brief and a definition of done.
- Days 2–3: do separate pieces of work. Keep the hand-offs visible. Raise uncertainty early.
- Day 4: compare evidence. Make one decision together and record why.
- Days 5–6: finish the small output. Reduce scope if needed; do not quietly change what the other person expects.
- Day 7: review the collaboration. Look at the work and at how you worked. Choose a next step, a different trial or a respectful stop.
Seven days is an example, not a requirement. Adjust it to actual availability. A student founder and a full-time founder should not pretend they share the same working week.
Build a first-week agenda
Review behaviour as well as the output
Ask whether each person could explain their decisions, communicate constraints, finish or renegotiate a commitment and disagree respectfully. A missed estimate with early communication tells you something different from a hidden delay.
A successful task is not proof that you should found a company together. Compare expectations again using the twelve-topic worksheet. If you stop, be explicit about any remaining work and how to close the collaboration respectfully.