Team

Co-founder Questions

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Based on YC's co-founder matching guidance.

Use this questionnaire after you've gotten to know someone, found an idea you're both interested in, and are deciding whether to commit. It surfaces differences early — not to replace time together, but to supplement it.

How to use it: each founder answers independently, then share and discuss.

10 key questions to discuss before deciding to work together

These come from YC's experience watching founding teams break up. For many of these you won't have a firm answer yet — that's fine. The goal is to find strong disagreements before they become crises.

1. Why do you want to do this startup? What are your personal goals, both financial and non-financial?

2. What will our roles and titles be? How will we divide responsibilities? Who will be CEO? Roles change over time, but agree on the first 6–12 months and decide what the CEO role actually means.

3. How will we split equity? Resolve this early. See the Finding a Co-founder page for guidance on vesting and what YC expects.

4. Where will the company be based? Where will we each live? Will we work in-person or remotely?

5. What idea will we work on? If it doesn't work out, are you willing to pivot? Are there areas you're only interested in?

6. What needs to happen for each of us to go full-time? E.g. raise at least $X, validate with a paying customer, enjoy working together after two months. Skip if you're both already full-time.

7. What is your personal financial situation? Are you willing to work for free and live on savings? For how long? If you need a salary, how much? Will either of us put money into the company?

8. What will our working schedule look like? What days, how many hours? How long can you sustain that? Are there things outside work you need to protect time for?

9. How do you want to build the team? In-person or remote? Cultural values? Approach to hiring and managing? It's fine to not have strong views yet.

10. How will we handle disagreements — and a potential breakup? What process will we use when we can't agree on an important decision? What happens if we decide we don't want to work together?

Questions to get to know each other better

Go through these once you've decided working together makes sense.

  • How would your friends or colleagues describe your strengths and weaknesses?
  • What are you proud of having accomplished — work-related or not?
  • What do you do with your free time? What are your hobbies and interests? (Successful co-founders surprisingly often have overlapping outside interests.)
  • What companies, founders, or products do you really admire — especially ones you'd want to model this company after?
  • What were your past jobs or startups like? What did you like and dislike about how they were run? What did you take away?
  • What is your life story and how have your experiences shaped your values?
  • Have you worked with a co-founder before? What was that like?
  • What kind of work feels so fun it doesn't feel like work? What kind do you avoid?
  • What are your long-term life goals, and how does this startup fit in?
  • What makes you most excited about working with me?
  • What makes you concerned about working with me?
  • What environment do you work best in? What can we do to help you create it?
  • What's the best way for me to give you feedback?
  • When you feel stressed, do you want to talk about it or tend to go quiet? (Psychologist and founder coach Amy Buechler has written about how these styles affect co-founder relationships.)
  • Are there pressures in your life right now? Challenges outside the startup — family, visa, health — create pressure inside it. Tell your co-founder.

Checklist when bringing on a co-founder

Before deciding to work together:

  • Meet in person and do a trial project together.
  • Do reference calls on each other. Ask people who've worked with your potential co-founder what it was like, and for advice on how to work with them. Do this transparently — agree when you're ready, then swap references.
  • If you have a spouse or serious partner, have them meet your potential co-founder. This person will be a major presence in your life.

After deciding to work together:

  • Create a system for prioritising tasks and deciding what to work on. The specific system matters less than having one.
  • Set up a recurring 1-1 (typically weekly) to talk specifically about how working together is going. Amy Buechler calls these "Founder syncs" and has written a detailed guide to running them well. Done consistently, they significantly reduce the risk of a co-founder breakup.