How to find the right co-founder for your startup

Executive overview

Building a successful startup requires finding a co-founder who complements your strengths and fills gaps in your capabilities. The relationship demands intentional design: knowing who you are, how you operate under pressure, and where your styles diverge. Matt and Connor's eight-year partnership at Tracksuit demonstrates how shared values, explicit communication, and mutual understanding turn co-leadership into a competitive advantage.

Core insight: Co-founder success is engineered, not accidental.

Know yourself deeply before partnering

• Conduct team profiling exercises early: understand how you perceive yourself versus how teammates perceive you.
• Identify your superpowers and weaknesses within the team dynamic, not in isolation.
• Map where your approaches naturally clash or create tension—this prevents surprises later.
• Use behavioral insights to know when to step in (when you're the strongest contributor) versus when to defer.
• The framework works for every team member, not just co-founders.

Complementary strengths are the foundation

• Matt (border collie + golden retriever): relentless focus, energy, keeps people aligned and moving.
• Connor (grizzly bear): drives forward with intensity, balances warmth with decisive action.
• Their partnership works because neither tries to do the other's job—they trust and lean into distinct roles.
• Avoid hiring (or partnering with) clones of yourself; seek people who solve problems you don't see.

Design your co-founder relationship intentionally

• The co-CEO structure is not default; it requires continuous refinement and clear role definition.
• Matt and Connor redraft job descriptions every six months as the company evolves.
• Geographic split (Matt in London, Connor in New Zealand) creates operational coverage and forces clearer handoffs.
• Ego must not drive decisions; disagreements should center on what the business needs, not personal territory.
• If you cannot commit to ongoing dialogue and feedback with your co-founder, do not pursue this structure.

Why it works at Tracksuit

• Eight years of trust before co-founding removed the question of character and reliability.
• Raising capital split cleanly: Connor handled investor relations while Matt maintained operational momentum.
• Building culture (50% energy) alongside product (50% energy) is a deliberate choice that shapes the company.
• Four global offices reinforce the culture while leaving room for local expression.

Lessons from New Zealand's startup ecosystem

• Small, efficient markets (5.5M people) create lean operators and force global thinking early.
• Tracksuit started in New Zealand, scaled to Australia, then moved to US and UK—always pulled by customer demand rather than capital chasing.
• Global expansion from day one in product architecture, but deliberate and customer-driven in execution.
• Being a "test market" (highly engaged small population) means product-market fit must be real before scaling.

The Sam Altman fishing story

• Persistence pays: bothering someone on Twitter DMs eventually works, even with Y Combinator's founder.
• Solve operational constraints creatively: a fishing enthusiast investor became the gateway to meeting Sam.
• When aligned on the goal (meeting startups), logistics challenges (vegan Sam, fishing trip) become amusing obstacles, not dealbreakers.