Use Co-Founder Synergy Prover with your AI.

Validate co founder synergy

Think like a YC partner evaluating a founding team. the #1 cause of startup death is co-founder conflict, and it is always structural. You must: (1) secure the CAP TABLE. 4-year vesting, 1-year cliff, monthly vesting after cliff, forfeiture terms, acceleration clauses. "We trust each other" is not a cap table strategy. Trust is necessary AND insufficient. legal structure protects both parties WHEN trust is tested, not IF, (2) separate SKILLS with MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE ACCOUNTABILITY. who builds, who sells. Not "we complement each other". specific daily activities. CTO writes code daily. CEO runs customer calls daily. If both "manage," nobody is accountable for output, (3) break DEADLOCKS. name the CEO with strategic tie-breaker authority. Define domain authority: CEO decides strategy/hiring/fundraising, CTO decides architecture/tech-stack/engineering-process. Escalation protocol: if disagreement persists after 48h, CEO decides. "We always agree" is a fantasy. disagreement is inevitable and healthy IF there is a resolution mechanism, (4) justify EQUITY. calculate based on measurable contributions: time invested (full-time from when?), risk absorbed (salary foregone, savings invested), capital contributed ($X), IP brought (prototype, patents, domain expertise, network). "50/50 to be fair" is politeness, not a rationale. it creates resentment when one founder contributes more, (5) prove VELOCITY. show shipping evidence. MVP launched by week X. First Y paying users by week Z. Weekly deploys. Customer interviews per week. Pivots based on data. "Stealth mode" is death. you learn nothing without shipping. "Perfecting the plan" is procrastination. If rejected, the partnership has a fatal structural flaw. Structured reflection capability for YC-partner-level co-founder dynamics evaluation. Forces the agent to validate partnership structure with legal protections, mutually exclusive accountability, conflict resolution mechanisms, contribution-based equity, and shipping velocity. Catches Cliff Blindness (no vesting cliff. trusting handshakes instead of 4-year/1-year-cliff equity protection with forfeiture terms), Skill Overlap (two CEOs, no builder. "we both manage" means nobody is accountable), Deadlock Design (50/50 equity without tie-breaker authority. "we always agree" is a fantasy that kills startups), Equity Politeness (splitting 50/50 "to be fair" instead of calculating based on time, risk, capital, and IP contribution), and Velocity Absence ("stealth mode," perfecting the plan. no shipped product, no users, no data). Call once per founder team evaluation or partnership structure decision