I've watched dozens of founders spend months doing YC matching, networking events, and LinkedIn cold outreach looking for cofounders without any success. Every successful founding team I know has the same story: they were already working together before they formalized anything. **The pattern:** * Failed searches: "I need someone to handle sales/tech/ops because I don't want to" * Successful teams: "We were solving this problem together and realized we should make it official" **The real question is:** Would you genuinely enjoy spending 12 hours a day with this person when everything's going wrong? When you're pivoting for the third time and revenue is flat? If you're "searching," you're probably looking for validation or free labor. Both terrible reasons. **Better approach:** Start building solo. Share your progress. The right people will naturally gravitate to what you're doing. If someone wants to join and you'd actually enjoy working together daily, great. If not, stay solo or hire when you can afford it. How did you actually meet your cofounder? Deliberate search or organic? Solo founders - do you feel pressure to find one even when you don't want to?