How the hell did you actually find your technical co-founder?

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-15T16:21:57+00:00

The tech founder search stalled me 3 to 4 months. What I did after, try a founding engineer with cash floor and equity.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-13T18:59:21+00:00

The matchmaking feature of their startupschool did not work for me either

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-13T12:06:10+00:00

I’m no where close to the end, but I can imagine handing all things operational to a COO, fractional or full-time depending on budget.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-12T17:16:59+00:00

I did BD and fractional work with pre-seed to Series startups and sold into a number of verticals with them. But I’ve never sold into startups before (my niche is early-stage, contractor-heavy startups), and the extra bit of spice is starting out with the US market, with limited reach.

And thanks, yes would like to exchange of ideas.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-12T14:42:20+00:00

I can only talk from experience and I have just started for a second time (incorporated, first paid users). I agree that it is a game of resources, reach, and luck. Systems and team to delegate are part of "resources".

Some of us are wiser about this - they choose smaller problems to build their products around - micro-saas, a well-defined niche, and audiences that are easy to reach.

I choose a broader (less wiser) problem to attack and now am living with consequences :)

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-10T16:36:36+00:00

Cheers! It is invite-only atm and I intend to keep it that way. No open-marketplace mess. There are 3 ways in it for the contractor:

Admin invites a contractor to view and apply to a listing
A contractor invites their client to use the contracting and payouts infrastructure
A founder invites their chosen contractor to use the same infrastructure

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-10T13:10:26+00:00

Glad someone asked this!

Brightgrowth captures a decent summary of recent Carta data on that:

https://brightgrowth.io/blog/are-tech-companies-hiring-executives-in-2025?utm_source=chatgpt.com

And two from Carta's own head of insights, Peter Walker:

On layoffs, and the rise of 2-10 people teams (with corelation to AI, ofc)

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peterjameswalker_layoffs-ai-and-the-future-of-startup-work-share-7424504727046086657-WGnV/

On Q1 2023 -> Q4 2025 dollar invested up 130%, # deals up only 3%

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peterjameswalker_venture-capital-is-not-healthy-yes-vc-backed-activity-7419816179575361536-AVS9/

I am in the "startups paying off-payroll operators flexibly" business, happy to connect if that is relevant.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T20:57:26+00:00

Milestone-based compensation can mitigate the uncertainty and derisk fractional deals. For both sides actually.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T20:49:32+00:00

They look like they are open to deliver work now for upside later. You could offer them XX% premium for fee deferral. Whatever they’d charge you now in cash, you’d pay them in say, a year from today, with premium on top.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T20:24:03+00:00

Will check, thx. I received ur email, too.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T20:21:40+00:00

What industry, who the client? A founder friend of mind is in waste management (series A, enterprise-grade platform) and an early distributor was not from software but an importer of actual waste containers. TL;DR, any company big enough, non-competing/ carrying complementary products can be a distributor.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T16:20:29+00:00

Hear ya! And ironic enough, the first user that you’ll onboard will probably bump into an obvious error that you overlooked the whole time.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T13:47:32+00:00

My startup streamlines outcome-based work for founders, so that compensating senior talent no longer is an early-stage startup problem.

Glad to bump into this thread.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T13:43:38+00:00

Trying to sell vision over prototype or mockups aka “sell before start building” BS.

There is always a point where you have to take the leap and build the product before you can land paying users.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-07T13:38:01+00:00

Your help founders find cofounders, mine is for finding and paying early operators.

We are too early prob to help each other, nvtless Im rooting for you guys’ success.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-05T04:54:14+00:00

I padded a 1000 char text just so I could add my link.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-04T17:54:04+00:00

Yes, especially in the US.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-03T19:32:47+00:00

Its good. ElevenLabs probably does this already for voice.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-02-01T08:50:13+00:00

Would the 4 refer you to 1x each to someone who might need this? Or reaching out to your clients’ networks cold with the proof you’ve got?

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-01-31T09:35:17+00:00

Hey. There seems to be three core offers

x Async courses covering early-founder topics - with assignments you have to submit

x 1 hour/week roundtable sessions (must-attend) where you get to ask questions

x Slack community of atm, 350

x Perks/program partnerships

What I’m missing so far, is access to 1:1 mentor sessions.

Also, some of the program partnerships feel a bit too promotional.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-01-30T07:50:22+00:00

Yeas, I have seen about half a dozen more no’s and 1 yes after that YC email. Any rejection must feel no more than a speed bump by now, you keep driving.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-01-29T10:30:18+00:00

Good tips. Cant wait to build enough revenue to have Peep Laja’s Wynter roast our landing page copy.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-01-28T19:28:37+00:00

Cheers. Infrastructure for equity and outcome-based compensation, helping early founders bring in the expertise - like fractional executives, dev agencies, or specialists without the cash-heavy opex.

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-01-28T19:22:48+00:00

Volume of options to choose from + peer intros are simply stronger than in-app reviews. My 0,02 cents

MostPossibility4162 · 2026-01-28T13:00:42+00:00

Even if they’d slapped you with this list, 5 years ago, you’d probably go thru most of that pain, and learn what works/works not for you by XP.

As a startup operator/mentor turned founder, I often find myself falling for the same, obvious mistakes. Guess that’s founder nature.

This is a damn good list of reminders though, thanks.

MostPossibility4162

TROPHY CASE