Co-founder selection is one of the most critical decisions an entrepreneur must make, as choosing the wrong co-founder can profoundly impact the operation and performance of the venture. Even though this poses an existential risk to the venture, the way lead entrepreneurs and potential co-founders navigate this critical process remains unclear. To explore this phenomenon, we conducted a qualitative study of ventures that were in the process of searching for potential co-founders. From this, we developed a model that maps how the matchmaking process and the dynamics between lead entrepreneurs and potential co-founders unfold. A core finding is that lead entrepreneurs often make this pivotal decision under significant time pressure and urgency to secure a co-founder who can help accelerate their venture. This urgency shifts the decision-making power toward the potential co-founder, with lead entrepreneurs often waiting to be chosen. Our work extends the entrepreneurial team formation literature by providing novel insights into the mechanisms influencing the co-founder selection, highlighting the power-imbalance in the selection process and exploring the trade-offs between continuing the search for an ideal co-founder and settling for the first person who meets some of their criteria.
