Quick summary:
- based on 3 failed cofounder relationships, 1 successful company (CircleCI)
- current cofounding (https://darklang.com) very strong
- spoke to 50 potential cofounders (not 2-3 like before)
- 50% of my pipeline were founders with underrepresented backgrounds
- after first 10 had a profile that I was looking for (PM in consumer or devtools)
- had a 40 part questionnaire that potential cofounders filled in, took about 90 mins, sent them my answers after I got theirs
- prioritize chemistry and company value alignment (eg questions like when do you want to sell the company)
- worked together on small company-building projects for a few weeks to assess fit
- went to cofounder therapy (still going, it's been two years)
- getting 50 is hard, I asked for recommendations from friends, colleagues, investors, posted on social media and linkedin, used angellist, went to meetups, cold emailed people, cold linkedin messaged. All produced good leads and lots of bad leads