How rigorous should the process of finding a co-founder be?

Matt Clifford · Jul 1, 2024

You can successfully start a company with a stranger; the conventional wisdom that co-founders must be long-standing acquaintances is survivorship bias.

Historically it was nearly impossible to meet a co-founder as a stranger, so the venture community only ever observed founders who had known each other for years.

55:15 Founding with a stranger can work conventional wisdom against it is survivorship bias

Markus Villig · Nov 13, 2024

Founders searching for a co-founder should persist past dozens of rejections and look outside their own networks, including random online forums

His own technical co-founder came from a random Estonian forum after 30 people turned him down

12:56 Persist past many rejections and search outside your own network

Eléonore Crespo · May 9, 2025

Choosing a co-founder should be run as a rigorous sourcing exercise — mapping the best entrepreneurship schools and proven founders, asking hundreds of people in your network for recommendations, building a ranked list, and back-channeling on personality traits before ever making contact.

You are committing to spend roughly the next twenty years with this person, so the selection deserves the same rigor as executive recruiting.

7:33 Cofounder search should be a rigorous sourcing exercise like executive recruiting

Sam Corcos · Dec 11, 2023

The biggest cofounder mistake is not really knowing who your cofounder is — founders should run reference diligence on a potential cofounder before starting a company together

He knows someone who cofounded with a person who embezzled money from the company; that founder's reputation is now tainted, and a few conversations with people who knew the person would likely have surfaced the risk

57:51 Run reference diligence on a potential cofounder before starting a company