Can founders reliably know in advance whether a co-founder relationship will last for decades?

Mike Krieger · Feb 22, 2023

Partnerships go south when partners dig in and retrench on disagreements rather than being able to digest and see the other person's perspective.

Strong opinions are useful, but the ability to come back hours later and see the other viewpoint — even while still disagreeing — is what prevents entrenchment.

Scope: still disagreeing afterwards is fine; the point is not retrenching

4:02 20VC: Instagram Founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger on Why Social Networks Should Be Less Social & The Next Wave of Social | Why San Francisco Will Return with a Vengeance and The Future For Remote Work | Let's Get Personal: Relationships to Money, Be

Eléonore Crespo · May 9, 2025

Certain identifiable traits do predict whether you'll want to stay with someone for twenty years: being balanced, being true to themselves whether the business is going badly or well, and being immune to the 'celebrity virus' despite success.

Romain had already taken Criteo public yet remained the most humble person, and people have followed him for ten years.

Scope: accepts that any long partnership requires constant adaptation and change

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Kevin Systrom · Feb 22, 2023

It is a myth that you can ever have the same friendship or relationship again, because life circumstances change; what is impressive is a partnership that morphs through that change.

When he and Mike met they had kids, dogs, wives or homes — they had nothing to do but work — and life could not be more different now, so surviving beyond one company is a different achievement than surviving one company.

8:09 20VC: Instagram Founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger on Why Social Networks Should Be Less Social & The Next Wave of Social | Why San Francisco Will Return with a Vengeance and The Future For Remote Work | Let's Get Personal: Relationships to Money, Be

Mike Krieger · Feb 22, 2023

Their partnership survived because they moved through the same life stages in parallel, creating empathy, and because both still had the drive to build after Instagram.

If one of them had wanted to coast or do something less intense, the partnership would have been much harder; both loving building meant they were on the same page when they looked at each other post-Instagram.

Scope: no judgment on someone who would rather coast

9:01 20VC: Instagram Founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger on Why Social Networks Should Be Less Social & The Next Wave of Social | Why San Francisco Will Return with a Vengeance and The Future For Remote Work | Let's Get Personal: Relationships to Money, Be

Harry Stebbings · May 9, 2025 · hedged

You can never proactively know that a co-founder relationship will work for twenty years.

9:32 Impossible to know in advance if a cofounder relationship will last decades