My 5-step blueprint for finding the ideal cofounder
Having founded multiple startups across various industries, I firmly believe having the right cofounder(s) is the most significant determinant of startup success.
Hence, after transitioning from my last startup, I spent over 100 hours going through cofounder matching with 30+ potential partners.
While this was a time-consuming process — I learned a ton about transforming the art of cofounder matchmaking into a science. So I sat down to formalize the actionable steps I took to find, assess, and partner with cofounders.
Ultimately, this 5-step process helped me find my cofounder for Supademo, an interactive demo platform that has quickly grown to 2000+ users in less than five months).
1) Identify and target the right communities
The first place you should start is your network. Quickly identify the people you most admire or would love to work with.
Ask yourself: “Who in my network has the capability to create a successful company? Who can I best learn from?” These are the folks you should be starting with.
If you have a limited network, no problem! There are tons of established communities where both repeat and aspiring founders regularly come together.
Here are fantastic places to start your cofounder search:
- YC Cofounder Matching is a free online platform for finding a high-quality cofounder based on your preferences for interests, skills, or location
- Indie Hackers is a great place to connect with other founders — check out the Looking to Partner Up group..
- Reddit (r/SaaS, r/Startups, r/Entrepreneur) or Hacker News
- Startup Weekend is a worldwide, three-day event where entrepreneurs pitch, validate, build, and demo their prototypes.
- Slack communities like ProductLed and Product School are great places to start. Otherwise, here is a list of 400 other potential channels.
Alternatively, you can build top-of-funnel cofounder leads by proactively reaching out to:
Ex-founders/operators of previous Techstars or Y-Combinator startups
Established founders on Twitter
Founders featured on Forbes 30 Under 30 or equivalent (though this might be a vanity success metric — take it with a grain of salt).
Once you’ve built momentum with a group of potential cofounders…
2: Conduct an initial screening call
Jump on a video conference to introduce yourself and get to know each other on a personal level.
During this call, you should discuss your motivations and align on the fundamentals:
- The ideal problem spaces you would like to explore ideas in
- Problems you’ve encountered/faced that you’d like to solve
- The type of company you’d like to build (i.e., timeframe for an exit, bootstrapped, etc.)
- Ideal time commitment and threshold (i.e., side project? FT? Threshold for full-time expectation)
- Working philosophy (i.e., remote, in-person, hours, etc.)
- Topics beyond work. A cofounder is someone you’ll practically be married to (time commitment-wise). This is your opportunity to determine if you’re okay with spending 40+ hours together in a high-pressure startup environment.
Once you align on the fundamentals, move on to the next step. If not, end the discussion here and save yourself time.
3: Build and complete a cofounder questionnaire
If you’ve made it to this step, congratulations! You now have an opportunity to build both depth and breadth into your mutual assessment.
The best way to do this is to create and share a cofounder questionnaire that dives deeper into your collective motivations, ambitions, and skills.
You can get started by using a popular one like First Round’s 50 Questions to Explore with a Cofounderer, taking pertinent snippets from different sources on the internet, or mixing and matching all of the above (which is what I did).
Here is a link to the personal cofounder questions and answers I shared.
Once you fill this out…
4: Meet to discuss answers and conduct reference checks
Set up an hour or two to sit down and review each other’s answers in person or via a conference call. I think this is important since siloed, asynchronous review can lead to misinterpretation or misconstrued answers.
A big part of communication is nonverbal, so it’s critical to observe each other’s level of excitement, fear, or sincerity beyond the written text.
During the call, probe deeper and request concrete examples that support your potential cofounder’s written answers.
At the end of the meeting, ask for one or two work-related references (i.e., previous cofounder, manager, direct report, advisor) and get in touch with them over a five-minute call.
Ask them questions to reaffirm answers listed in your cofounder’s questionnaire.
For instance, I would ask references questions like:
1. Would you (re)hire or cofound a company with this person? Why or why not?
2. If you had to rate their competency in {critical skill} out of 10, what would it be? Why?
3. How would you describe what it’s like to work with {name}?
4. What is the most impressive thing {name} has built?
If you’re satisfied with the references, move on to the next step!
5: Schedule a build-sprint
A build sprint is a time-boxed, controlled environment where you can emulate aspects of company building.
You’ll work with your potential cofounder(s) over a 2–4 week period to establish a sprint milestone, assess problems, and ship experiments to validate your hypotheses with real customers.
A build sprint is an effective tool for the following reasons:
- It simulates a cofounder relationship without the costly commitment;
- It helps define personal preferences behind how and when you like to work together;
- Roles are quickly established through actual output and results;
- It’s a barometer to weed out founders who like to “play house” or do “busy work” vs. delivering actual value;
- Allows both parties to see how they thrive under pressure;
Where can we learn more about early-stage founder lessons?
I'm active on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Here's Supademo, the startup I'm currently building.
I'm building the MCU of SaaS 💎
🔥 Roast My Landing Page
Don't do founder dating. Bad bad bad idea.
I wrote about finding a founder a while ago based on personal experience and working with a lot of startups as an investor and advisor.
The core parts are:
Ideally, you’ve worked with your co-founder before. That’s obvious - school, office, siblings, whatever. Hopefully you’ve worked together enough that you can figure out:Do you respect each other’s complimentary skills? And could those be separate responsibilities when it comes to your co-founding team?How do you each respond when things go sideways on a project? Do you act like a team or point fingers? Have you held each other accountable?Are you culturally aligned with where you want your careers and lives to go?And later, when describing company-building thoughts:
Make sure you are on the same page about the company you are pursuing and risk tolerance.There's so much more to this. Working on a sprint for 2-4 weeks is not enough data. What hardship do you really face?
Thanks for the input & for the helpful context/snippets. Very helpful!
While I agree that working with someone you have conviction in (i.e. co-founder, co-worker) is ideal, it's idealistic and isn't possible a lot of the time. For instance, even if you have a great network of qualified prospects, it's unlikely the confluence of factors fall in place at the same time you're ready to build. i.e.:
As for the timeline, 2-4 weeks is not meant to be prescriptive. It can be longer (i.e. I did nearly 2 months of exploration), but you're going to get a heck of a lot of data by spending 12+ hours grinding on building an MVP and booking customers. In my opinion, waiting for perfect data is a recipe for analysis paralysis
Agree @jihylee. You ultimately have to take the plunge and work intensely together for a period of time to get those answers concretely - even if you've worked with them before which can of course give you an indication, but not a guarantee.
Don't limit yourself, I say - explore all avenues.
100%!!
I found that finding cofounder with the same work ethic is extremely challenging.
It also depends from project to project.
Agreed - you need to make sure there's an alignment of expectations (hours, output) prior to commitment!
The links to the Slack communities you've hyperlinked don't seem to work. Is there anywhere else I can access that?
Thanks for sharing this! I recently found an article about a new Intch app for finding a co-founder. With the help of AI, you are matched with people you need )
That’s cool - you should share the link here!
please also make sure the person can do the work. I.e. if they are a developer, can they actually build a landing page etc. in a reasonable time. If they are a marketeer, can they do Ads/SEO.
Titles at startups are very shiny. Please make sure the person can also walk the walk (and not just do the talking).
1000% - that's great advice. Verifying both their strategic and tactical (i.e. ability to get shit done and make the right tradeoffs with limited time/resources) is paramount. Titles don't mean anything in early-stage companies - execution does
I double that. Or, if they are willing to pick up topics and tasks that are outside of their expertise.
Agreed - I also look for folks with projects outside of their work (shows they're curious and always looking to learn/grow) or have founded a company before (which helps you build 5x faster the second time around)
Good points! Agreed.
I enjoyed your post. I think your 5-step process is smart and well-thought-out. Thanks for this post G! 🔥
Hey what's up everyone! Great article and I wanted to say Point 5 absolutely nails it. Whatever questions you may ask over a call or interview, it all comes down to actually building the sh** together and testing each other under stress. Take it like an 'internship' and don't hold any lingering feeling if things don't work out. Don't carry any baggage, neither party should feel that they let each other down, and simply move on amicably to the next partnership until you land one that you can collaborate with on a long-term basis.
Great feedback - I agree with your take!
Absolutely! Finding the right co-founder is a critical decision that requires careful consideration. While it may not be an easy task, having a clear understanding of what you're building is essential. When seeking a co-founder, focus on finding someone who shares your vision and work ethic is important. Their alignment with your goals and values will be instrumental in navigating the journey together. Good luck in finding the perfect co-founder! 🤝🚀
Thanks for reading!
yeah! it's very useful for me and other person like me. and thank you so much for sharing this information.
Thanks for taking the time to read it. Glad you found value!
I love this blueprint. And it showcases, in a very thoughtful manner, that finding a co-founder is not as easy as some make it seem.
Co-founding has huge upsides when you find a complimentary partner.
Glad you enjoyed it - thanks for reading!
this is a very good topic to discuss. to me, we will never know the real personality of the co-founder until you are facing a very hard time in your startup. everything is good at the beginning, and people have a lot of motivation until the crisis happens
I've been looking for a technical cofounder for over a year without any luck. In the meantime I have built a consulting business around the idea with duct taped tech solutions from third-parties or self built stuff.
It's not sustainable.
The biggest issue that I have is my network, and my industry, is full of designers and other non-technical people. I am an urban planner and although my network in that field is vast, it hasn't helped me find a cofounder that can help build a product.
This isn't surprising considering that technical talent is the most scarce resource in a startup. You need to rise above the noise and de-risk the opportunity for folks to bring your SaaS ideas to life.
Some things I would look at doing:
Generate traction: Build as much momentum as possible, in the form of signups, letters of intent (LOIs), design partnerships, or loose commitments for trial usage. Traction will be a huge validator;
Build out an interactive prototype: Share it across different communities, with a focus on learning and feedback. None of this requires code, but having a level of clarity on the future feature roadmap (based on real customer feedback) is exciting to engineers. Here’s an example of a Figma prototype we created to validate our hypotheses with potential customers;
Apply for startup programs: De-risk your idea with support from accelerators like Techstars or YC, which will be a natural catalyst to attracting smart, driven engineering talent. Here’s a link to the application that got us into Techstars in 2017;
Reduce the perception of commitment and time: Proactively assure potential technical co-founders that this is a non-binding, non-exclusive agreement to start. Begin with a small commitment (i.e. weekly 1hr meeting to discuss the idea) and with a plan to increase commitment based on progress and traction. Use this time to showcase your business skills and competency.
Build in your zone of excellence: Double down on an idea or opportunity where you’re a de-facto subject matter expert. Worked in high-frequency trading for 20 years? Exploring this vector will give potential co-founders more assurance and conviction on the future probability of success.
I especially love the interactive prototype. I tend to only be able to see the end product and I am often not able to accept that I have to start with something small and iterate in order to get there. A prototype at the scale that you shared is well within my expertise and something that I will pursue. Thank you for the article and reply.
Made it on Supademo by exporting and uploading my Figma files. Try it out!
Not sure if that's the right way. Finding a cofounder has to be a natural process, not a planned and guided process.
I personally think getting a cofounder is equivalent to finding a romantic partner. You need to find people who are interesting, have integrity, and compliment your skill well.
I think having a framework that can ebb and flow is better than leaving your destiny up to chance. This process doesn't need to be rigid and can be malleable (i.e. it was for me)
Yes, there is a level of serendipity and organic discovery needed, but having a level of structure was really helpful when evaluating 30+ candidates. This allows you to have an apples to apples comparison
IMO the best way to find a cofounder is... to not look for one. Super cliche I know, but the good ones have a weird way of naturally revealing themselves over time. Andy and I never thought we'd be running a business together until one day it just made sense. Until then, we preferred doing solo stuff and supporting each other 100% of the time. We'd been doing hack nights for a year or so before I brought it up and it instantly made sense to both of us.
Love that approach. Solo building definitely works for some folks (type of business, skillset, ambition of scale) but I always prefer building with a co-founder from the start to derisk ourselves and grow faster.
Though the hack nights seem like a nice halfway step!
After going through the exercise here are some top thoughts in non-particular order but all important:
Love this - thanks for sharing your insights!
I've always found the very first step challenging. I'll go through your resources to see if I can identify some potential cofounders
Best of luck - feel free to DM me if you have any questions!
This is a fantastic write up, thank you for sharing!
Thanks for taking the time to learn!
Thanks for helpful content
Thanks for reading!
I collaborated on the First Round’s 50 Questions to Explore with a Cofounder and released a more extensive version on GitHub years ago. Check it out and PRs are always welcome :)
@nickls/co-founder-survey
There are a lot of excellent perspectives in this post; finding a co-founder or deciding if it even makes sense to have a co-founder is a very personal decision.
I've gone back and forth over the years and these days I would rather have employees than a co-founder.
ChatGPT also reduces the need somewhat. I've used ChatGPT to collaborate on design decisions, pricing, and strategy. And it doesn't ask for any equity, yet! :)
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I've spent a LOT of time thinking about this problem so if you ever have questions feel free to DM me.
This is really cool. Haha totally, AI is going to be the great equalizer for a lot of indiehackers looking to compete with bigger teams!
Good stuff.
Thanks for reading!
I can't overemphasize the last step of scheduling a build sprint to ensure the candidate can actually deliver on the necessary hard and soft skills.
Most definitely - this is the most important part!
And https://tertle.io 🐢 :D
Would love to hear in more detail about those steps you took referencing real experiences on your journey to finding the one! 8-)
Tertle looks cool. Love the design & great work!
Question - are you looking to monetize? And if so how? Also curious to hear how you're planning to differentiate vs. incumbent platforms!
Thanks man! Apologies for the late response . I am currently monetizing but not in amounts enough to quit the day job lets put it that way.
Main focus right now is just creating the best experience and value before any hard push on making cash.
Right now the main differentiators are a more narrowed focus on indie's, a cleaner/smoother experience (or so I like to think), and more thorough pre-vetting. What I like to call the 'core' product is nearly there. The main differentiators I have planned are yet to come but I can only build so fast with one pair of hands. Being a user of the platform also helps me see things through community eyes.
Do you have any thoughts on what they could/should be?
I was wondering that this post gave me the idea for an incredible SaaS platform. Thank you.
Amazing - send me the link once you get going, happy to support where I can!
Thanks! You think something like that could have potential despite the competition of Y Combinator's co-founder matching platform?
It really depends on which niche you narrow in on + what type of business you want to build (venture-scale, side project). But if nothing else you'll learn a ton from building something from scratch!
This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for sharing!👍
Thanks for taking the time to read!
or ignore all of the above crap and just have a chat with the person about the work that needs to be done, can they do it, how long it will take, and what they will need from you to do their job.
Discuss actually important things like how you going to finance the project, realistic timeframes to actually do it, and expectations of returns.
Attempting to follow some pre-made questionnaires is one of the most stupid things you can do when looking for a co-founder, it is a personal process and most of what is suggested above can work in a very narrow scenario, in the rest of the cases you just going to piss off the person you are talking to.
Whatever you do, do not turn the conversation into a job interview, if you are looking for a partner to build something, approach it as what it should be "a mutually beneficial partnership", you are not looking for a friend (that will be a bonus if it happens), you definitely do not look for a "drinking buddy" or a "boyfriend/girlfriend"
You are not hiring anyone (if you have the money hire people), you are looking for someone to do the things you can't do yourself, have a conversation and think about it, if you are not sure, have another conversation and talk to people you trust about it.
After you agree to work with someone, make a plan and organize what needs to be done for the next few weeks, and in the next few weeks see how things are progressing, and keep doing this every few weeks when you get to know the person you are working with.
There is only one way to find out if you have found a good work partner and that is to work with them
Thanks for the comment - this is helpful context and I always like to hear opposing thoughts :)
The article isn't meant to be prescriptive but a rough guideline (i.e. I was operating a lot of these steps implicitly without knowing it) that should ebb and flow depending on the founder's credibility, stage, conviction, etc.
When it comes to investing in diligence up-front, I think it's a crucial exercise for both parties, often leading to more time saved vs. spent. To me, it'd be a red flag if you're unwilling to align on the fundamentals before putting your head down and working.
This shouldn't be a job interview and is meant to be a mutually beneficial, exploratory process.
you do realize that only people that can't figure out how to pick a co-founder use this type of suggestion guide, and they use them as direct "step-by-step guides" that practically make it worse, you can't imagine how many people I have spoken with got in trouble because they picked the wrong person to work with.
doing due diligence up-front is a good thing if you know how, this type of material is pointless if you do not know how to implement it.
this is why you implement the only guaranteed method of discovering if you can work with someone, actually do work with that someone.
Not sure if I prescribe to that notion - I'm personally an intermediate to experienced founder and I'm always looking to learn different mental models and challenge my assumptions.
As long as you absorb all the information, distill it into what's relevant/actionable for you and take action based on your own unique context, content like this can be very helpful
But we can agree to disagree!!
I found YC's co-founder matching platform a bit overwhelming. Most people sign-up to the platform and don't ever use it.
When it comes to YC co-founder matching, I found that you really get what you put into it. Especially if you're non-technical - you need to showcase why you're unique among a sea of candidates (+ derisk collaborating with you)
But 100%, you need to wade through a lot of unqualified leads to get to competent, engaged co-founder prospects
@jhylee when you found your cofounder, how did you make it official? Did you find a good founder agreement that you can share or what did you do?
Thanks for your comment. We decided on a loose framework (loose agreement on expectations, noted on Notion) and transitioned this to an official document once we both had conviction.
Here are a few I've used/referenced in the past:
Good approach! What would you say are the top traits you look for?
Thanks for the comment!
Personally, I would prioritize: