Co-founders, team & legal

What should I look for in a co-founder, and what are red flags?

Look for complementary skills, shared values on money and ambition, resilience under stress, and someone you can fight with and still respect. Red flags: won't commit full-time, dodges hard conversations about equity, or you've never actually built anything together. Skills can be learned; trust and work ethic can't.

Go deeper

3 resources, 3 link-checked.

📖 Book
✓ Link checked Paid Intermediate

The definitive, data-driven book on early founding-team decisions, drawing on quantitative research covering nearly 10,000 founders. It replaces gut-feel folklore about co-founders and equity with evidence.

The Founder's Dilemmas

From Princeton University Press by Noam Wasserman ~480 pages

  • Founding with friends and family is often less stable, not more
  • Rushed 'quick and equal' equity splits frequently cause later conflict
  • The relationship, role, and reward decisions you make early shape whether the startup survives
Open press.princeton.edu →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

A concrete, tactical guide to presenting yourself well to potential co-founders, useful whether or not you use YC's platform. It clarifies what a great co-founder is actually evaluating.

How to make your co-founder matching profile stand out

From YC Startup Library by Y Combinator Short read

  • Treat your profile as an elevator pitch for yourself
  • Show a specific accomplishment that reveals how you think
  • Be explicit about what you're looking for in a partner
Open ycombinator.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

A curated collection of YC's best primary guidance on how to find, evaluate, and test a co-founder, straight from the people who've seen thousands of founding teams. It's practical, opinionated, and free.

Finding a Co-Founder (YC Startup Library)

From YC Startup Library by Y Combinator Curated essay + video collection

  • Prioritize people you've worked with over strangers
  • Run a paid trial project before making it official
  • Have the hard money and equity conversations early, not later
Open ycombinator.com →

Terms in this answer

Co-Founder

People also ask

Do I actually need a co-founder, or can I go solo? 3 → Where do I actually find a co-founder if I don't already know one? 2 → Should I co-found with a friend or family member? 2 → How do I 'date' a potential co-founder before committing? 3 → As a non-technical founder, how do I find a technical co-founder? 3 → How should my co-founder and I split equity, and is 50/50 a mistake? 3 →

Also in D2C

The same ground, over in Get legal & compliant, our D2C track.

Do I actually need product liability insurance as a small D2C brand, or am I overthinking it? 3 → I'm just starting out, should I register as a proprietorship, LLP, or private limited company? 4 →

Also in How Founders Use AI

How founders actually use AI for this, over in Legal & Contracts.

Why review contracts with AI before paying a lawyer? 19 → How do founders handle NDAs, ESOPs, term sheets, and compliance questions with AI? 19 →

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Build the team, our GTM track.

When do I stop selling myself and hire my first salesperson? 5 → I have been handed a comp plan. How do I work out what I will actually earn? 5 →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →