How to find a stellar co-founder.

Finding a co-founder is hard. Arguably harder than finding a spouse for life.

If you've founded a startup before you will know that you spend countless hours with your co-founder, even more than you will spend with your family. So, it's ever so important your principles mix well. Guillaume Poussaz the notorious founder of [checkout.com] started NetMerchants way before the success of checkout. NetMerchants acts as a broker of foreign currency between US merchants and banks. Similar to what Wise (formerly TransferWise) is doing today. Anyway, the big lesson of the story is between the founders. Guillaume had big plans, while his co-founder ‘just’ wanted to pay off his mortgage. When your ideologies and visions don't align you will most likely find yourself at an intersection where paths will lead in different directions.

In Guillaume's case, it was for the better - he started opus payments which subsequently became [checkout.com], the $40B payments giant today, and made him a billionaire many times over.

But it doesn't always end in such fairytale endings. Often it means the end of what you built or at least a huge setback. That's why finding a co-founder with similar ambitions but complementary skills is so important.

Other reasons for having a co-founder have been well documented. One I want to touch on is how hard it is to get something off the ground in the early innings. There are so many moments of doubt and being able to voice those concerns to someone who is in the same boat is crucial. A lot of people simply don't understand what it takes to build a successful company. It's hard, to say the least. Doing it alongside a partner makes it a hell of a lot easier.

Our world is becoming more remote than ever. You may not find your co-founder at the local hockey club - and that's ok. There are several ways to connect with like-minded people from around the world - I found my co-founder on yc’s co-founder matching platform.

The platform is straightforward and quite simple to use. Set up a profile, write a few lines about who you are and what you're working on, set some filters, and start matching with potential co-founders. There is also an option to sign up for matching events around certain themes like fintech, marketplaces, enterprise SaaS, and so on. Those events take place virtually - you basically rotate around the room and get a few minutes to talk then after each meeting you can connect or pass. Basically, speed dating for co-founders.

I sifted through about 100 profiles and spoke to dozens over video chat before finding a match. When I met my co-founder it felt great - we connected instantly and bounced ideas naturally. It felt as if we were on the same page from the very start - we have similar ambitions, understand what it takes to build a company, and complemented each other really well in terms of skillsets and personality. Without thinking too much we immediately started to build. As with many things in life, don't force it, if it feels natural go with it and double down.

If you haven't found your co-founder I highly recommend yc’s platform, you’ll also find great resources on how to find ideas and all things building a startup. Setting up a profile takes only a couple of minutes and the pipeline of high-quality co-founders is huge and pretty much instant. Check it out here > [https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching]

Let me know in the comments how you met your co-founder or why you decided to build alone...