Founder FitThe co-founder alignment test
Founder LabRuns in your browser

Would your co-founder give the same answers?

Co-founder conflict sits near the top of every startup failure study, and almost all of it traces back to conversations that never happened early. Twenty questions on exit, money, commitment, control and conflict. Answer separately, compare, and get the exact conversations to have before you paper anything.

Privacy by default. Answers stay in your browser. No names are asked, ever: you are Founder A, your co-founder is Founder B. The compare code encodes answers only, so share it with your co-founder, not with the internet.
Who is answering?Two passes, one score

Answer the twenty questions, get your code, hand it to your co-founder. They pick Founder B, paste the code, answer the same questions, and the comparison appears. Same device or different continents, it works either way.

The twenty questionsAnswer honestly, not nicely
ReadoutLive

The founder prenupWrite it down while you still like each other
  • Equity and vesting on paper. The split, 4 year vesting, 1 year cliff, signed. Run the Split Test first.
  • The exit number, written down. The offer each of you would take today, revisited yearly. Mismatched exit numbers sink more companies than competitors do.
  • Salary policy until the raise. Who takes what, and what changes it.
  • Decision rights by domain. Whose call is product, whose is money, and the tie-break rule when domains collide.
  • The underperformance protocol. What you both do when one of you is not delivering, agreed before it happens to either of you.
  • Personal runway, shared honestly. How long each of you can really go on the salary policy above.
  • IP assigned to the company. Everything either of you has built for this, signed over on day one.
  • The leaver clause. What happens to equity, work in progress, and the story you both tell, if one of you walks.
Keep this readoutOptional
That address does not look complete. One more look?

We send the alignment score, the dimension reads, and the conversation list, always as Founder A and Founder B, never a name and never your raw answers. One copy reaches the Lab so a human can pick up the thread if you want one. Nothing else leaves this page.

Scoring is simple on purpose: identical answers align fully, neighbouring answers align halfway, opposite ends do not align. The dimensions carry equal weight because founder breakups do not care which one got you. A low score is not a verdict on the partnership, it is a map of the conversations you have not had yet. The research behind the questions: Noam Wasserman found 65 percent of high-potential startups fail on people problems between the founders, and the questions track his fault lines: roles, rewards, and relationships.

Want a human walking you both through the hard ones?

A moderated hour on the split, the exit number and the money policy, before you paper anything. One email starts it.

Email me

More instruments in the Founder Lab. Aligned and ready to paper it? The Split Test turns agreement into a number.