You've got an idea that you think will go big with you at the helm. You battle it out for months -- building, testing, learning. Then you're ready to pitch to some investors and the feedback is … overwhelmingly negative. You're just a single person with an early-stage idea. Come back to me when you hit X -- they say. 

We think of big, successful tech companies as having these solo visionaries -- Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang. But less well known is that each of these visionaries also had co-founders with skills complementary to their vision. In fact, if you check the Magnificent 7 stocks, six of those seven global tech leaders all started with co-founders (Bezos at Amazon being the outlier). 

Finding the right co-founder can be one of the most critical decisions a startup founder makes. While some entrepreneurs choose to go it alone, having a co-founder can provide key advantages that significantly improve a startup's chances of success. Investors, too, tend to favour startups with strong co-founding teams, seeing them as more resilient and better equipped to handle the challenges of scaling a business. 

I've experienced this firsthand as a co-founder. In the early days, having co-founders meant I had someone to challenge ideas, refine strategies, and push the business forward. And as I was the main operator, they held me accountable to key goals. Startups require expertise across multiple areas -- product development, sales, marketing, operations, and finance -- and it's rare for one person to excel at all of them. A well-matched co-founding team can fill gaps in knowledge and provide strategic insights that a solo founder might miss. 

The startup journey is intense, filled with high-pressure moments, unexpected setbacks, and long hours. Having someone to share the burden can make a significant difference in maintaining motivation and resilience. Many startups fail not because of flawed ideas, but because founders burn out under the weight of responsibility. A co-founder serves as a built-in support system, helping navigate difficult decisions and keeping the company moving forward even in challenging times. There were plenty of moments where I thought we were done and it was my co-founders who helped me to continue to believe, and also to realise when I was kidding myself.  

However, while having a co-founder brings many advantages, founders must be careful in choosing the right partner. Disagreements on company direction, decision-making, or work ethic can create long-term conflicts that hinder progress. It's crucial to have open discussions early on to ensure both founders are aligned on the company's goals, workflow, and operating principles. 

On clarity, a common mistake I've personally seen is co-founders with uneven cap tables. If you truly believe they are a co-founder, keep it simple and split 50/50. Uneven cap tables constantly bring you back to the question: does my workload represent my share? And it's a death spiral conversation. You will both work more than you expect at the start. Remember, you'll both be diluted by investors anyway (most founders end up with less than 10 percent of the company over time), and options pools can be used to rebalance equity if workloads change over time. 

So how do you find a co-founder if you don't have one? Go talk to anyone, everyone and then even more so. Be clear on your idea and what you're looking for in a co-founder. This is actually your first pitch, you're just asking for sweat rather than money. Sooner or later, you will find the right person, or even multiple people. It will happen. 

And if it doesn't, you need to ask yourself the hard question -- is my idea convincing enough for someone else to actually invest in? Confronting this first brutal fact is your first resilience test and it will tell you whether you really are cut out to be an entrepreneur. 

The author is the co-founder and CEO of ATEC Global.