Finding a Startup Cofounder
Patience, High Standards, and Openness are Key
I’ve built several products with other people, so I’m often asked how to find or choose a cofounder. You might be wondering, “But you’re on your own now and haven’t had a big exit, why should I listen?”
Two reasons:
The partners I worked with were never the reason those startups didn’t take off.
I learned from each collaboration what works well and what doesn’t.
Understanding the High Stakes
Investors who play the angel game might spread their cash across ten or more startups, hoping that a few will win big. When you're a founder, you're betting everything on a single idea, maybe one you’ll stick with for years. It's estimated that 90 percent of startups fail, (if you include unincorporated MVP stage startups it’s likely 99%+) so that gamble is enormous.
If you’re investing your time, you need to evaluate cofounders and ideas even more harshly than an investor would.
For those of us who write code, we've heard countless pitches: "Build my idea for equity." It happens so often that developers typically warn each other to avoid equity-only deals. I’m not quite that pessimistic, but some caution is warranted.
If your cofounder isn’t building the product, they had better be phenomenal at everything else or at least extremely hard working and focused.
My Criteria for Potential Cofounders
Mutual respect
We don’t have to be best friends but we’ll be spending a lot of time together. You want some common interests and you want to like your cofounder. If someone only sees me as a tool to code up their vision, I’m out.Fair equity
If I'm there from day one, I want an equal split of the company or a mix of pay and equity. What you currently have after a month or two is nothing compared to what you’ll build together. (A vesting schedule with a 1 year cliff can make sense for all parties IMO but some people shy away from this).In it for the long haul
You’re looking for a 5+ year partnership. Desiring revenue fast is healthy, expecting to get rich quickly and bail is not.Proven need
When it's not my own idea, I expect real proof that a real problem exists and people will pay to solve it.Unfair advantage
They need to have expertise I lack; expertise that the smartest engineers at FAANG companies lack. Are they able to maintain this advantage if AI gets twice as powerful next year? Maybe they have access to a super expensive enterprise software other founders wouldn't have, or they have important data we can train off of that even OpenAI can't get.Local and willing to work in person
I think you gain a lot from bouncing ideas off each other, being to look at the same product together etc. It’s just so much better to simply turn and talk to someone than to chat with them on discord or try to find a meeting time.Drive and grit
I need a partner who puts in the work. If we're aiming for real growth, that person must be relentless. I've heard it said a good founder can be described as a "force of nature". That’s where the bar is.
Be Willing To Walk Away
Time is precious. Especially now things are moving so fast. There is an enormous opportunity cost if you get stuck working on wrong idea or with the wrong team.
Where to Spot Potential Partners
Y Combinator's Startup School has a matching feature for founders. When I was seriously looking, I would jump on a zoom with people from the platform 3-5 times per week. If you meet 100+ founders this year you are bound to click with some of them.
You can also just go meet people in person
On average I attend two tech events in San Diego per week. My friend Jonah keeps track of the best local meetups on The Social Coyote. I recently also met Hussein who founded My Startup Beach which lists a growing number of the top events in town. He recently added an "Asks" feature which seems like a promising place to ask for intros to founders in your preferred niche.
I also really enjoy Ron's and Ken's Tech Coffee events Tobin's and Corey's SD Indie Hackers and of course Neal Bloom's Founders Hike and Brian’s Founders Surf. If you are into AI SDx has a ton of talented ambitious members and is definitely worth checking out.
These events are generally super casual and genuinely fun. Jonah recently dubbed this the “Rise of the hang”. There’s usually no agenda, just hang out and talk to people building and working on cool stuff.
Bring Something to Talk About
You don't need an MVP yet, but you should at least have a concept mapped out. A friend and previous cofounder recently showed me tldraw computer which makes it ridiculously easy to build a wireframe that actually does something.
Products like Replit, v0.dev by Vercel, bolt.new and Cursor are helping people ship. In some cases people who can't code are able to hack a prototype together with just $20 and some persistence. BTW check out Corey's super helpful article on Coding with Cursor if you are new to it.
If you're a developer building a mini MVP, app, or tool for yourself is the best way to showcase your skill. OwnNav has made me less than $100, but it's a complicated and functional app that proves I can build cross platform front end and backend.
Starting Small vs Unicorn Hunting
Due to movies like The Social Network, people sometimes assume that you can build a massive company as a student or fresh founder without fully appreciating the hard work involved. While there's excitement in aiming for something huge, I like starting with smaller, validated concepts before swinging for the fences. I like Pieter Levels's book on this MAKE: The Indie Maker Blueprint. In the past I definitely underestimated how hard you need to work, and I think a filter for grit/tenacity/discipline might be the most important of the criteria above.
Take your time! Working Alone is Fine (For Now)
I've discovered I enjoy working alone. It lets me pivot quickly, explore ideas, and set my own pace. That freedom has led me to focus on projects I truly care about without having to worry about anyone else’s feelings if I decide to pivot or drop the project. This doesn't mean I'll never partner up again. I just want it to be the right fit when I do.
Final Thoughts: Be open! Tell people you are looking.
Finding a great cofounder doesn't happen overnight. Sometimes they come from unexpected places.
I met one of the most talented developers I've ever worked with from a Craigslist posting of all places. We worked together for 2+ years and while the product ultimately didn't work out we built some great things together and I feel incredibly lucky to have worked with him.
Don't just meet potential cofounders, tell people you are looking! You might uncover someone in your network who has been looking for a partner as well but never mentioned it. That’s why it's crucial to let friends and colleagues know you're open to teaming up.
All that being said, I also think you can go far on your own these days. I’m hearing a lot of people say “OpenAI is my cofounder” which is a little sad but there’s some truth in it. Sam Altman has stated he expects AI to enable billion dollar companies with one employee, while I have my doubts and I find most of these tools eventually need hard debugging, I can't deny that it's way easier to launch now than it ever has been before.
If you want a cofounder, tell people you want one!
P.S. I wrote and edited this post on my new writing platform Wordara. I'm trying to write more about what I am working on and discovering this year and I'm building Wordara to help me do it. If you are also your own marketing team of one, I'd love to get your feedback on the beta!