Co-Founders are people involved in the cultivation of startup companies. Anyone can be a Co-Founder, and an existing company can also be a Co-Founder, but frequently Co-Founders are entrepreneurs, hackers, venture capitalists, web developers, web designers and others involved in the ground level of a new, often high tech, venture.
There is no formal, legal definition of what makes somebody a Co-Founder. The right to call oneself a Co-Founder can be established through an agreement with one's fellow Co-Founders or with permission of the board of directors, investors or shareholders of a startup company. When there is no definitive agreement, disputes about who the Co-Founders were can arise. One well-known example of a dispute over who can be called a Co-Founder can be observed in the story of a lawsuit against Elon Musk by a Co-Founder of Tesla Motors in which it was alleged that he did not have the right to consider himself a Co-Founder merely because he provided a large amount of capital and was instrumental in saving the company from bankruptcy.
Finding a co-founder may be a complicated issue. Agreeing on the terms and conditions of partnerships, exit strategies and compensations from the beginning, improves the understanding of what is expected of each party. .
Due to the rise of tech startups, Technical co-founders (programmers) are specially sought after. Some co-founder dating sites are now available online to fill this gap.
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