Updated on 21 May 2026
At NEXEA, we are at the centre of the Startup ecosystem in Malaysia & Southeast Asia, giving us access to Startups, Developers, Investors, Operators, and Entrepreneurs. We have invested in many growing Startups — many of which are constantly looking for strong Co-Founders and early team members.
According to various Startup ecosystem studies, many successful unicorns ($1B+ Startups) were built by two or three co-founders. However, this is still less important than building a strong overall team culture, execution capability, and long-term alignment.
...the magic number of Founders for many successful unicorns is often two or three.
To save you time, here are some practical and localised tips on how to find a great co-founder.
Someone who has strengths that cover your weaknesses. Typically, entrepreneurial founders are highly visionary and fast-moving, so it helps to find someone who is operationally strong, technically skilled, highly productive, sales-oriented, or process-driven.
The best co-founder combinations usually balance product, business, operations, and execution.
At the same time, avoid building teams where everyone has exactly the same background or personality type. A lack of diversity in experience often means strengths are duplicated — but weaknesses are duplicated too. A balanced founding team can navigate different challenges more effectively.
Fresh graduates can still make excellent co-founders today if they already possess strong skills in areas like software engineering, AI, product design, digital marketing, growth, or sales. In today's Startup environment, execution speed and adaptability often matter more than years of corporate experience.
Use Social Networks and Founder Matchmaking Platforms
Today, many founders also meet through online communities on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Telegram, Reddit, and niche tech communities.
Get in touch with past co-workers, classmates, operators, or associates who impressed you previously. Sell your vision to them and explain why they would be valuable to the journey. Many talented people are open to Startup opportunities but may never actively search for them unless approached.
People in your hobbies, sports, professional groups, or online communities can also become strong co-founders or early hires.
As you never know who knows who, it is also useful to ask family and friends if they know anyone with the skillsets or experience you are looking for.
If your environment does not expose you to enough Startup talent, consider spending more time in stronger Startup ecosystems and communities.
For example:
It is important to define the Startup's vision, goals, expectations, and responsibilities early on so that all co-founders are aligned on the purpose and direction of the company.
Discussing roles early makes it clear who is responsible for what.
Sometimes, it is difficult to determine who should lead the company initially. In such cases, giving yourselves a trial period of a few months can help reveal who is strongest in different areas and who naturally drives execution and leadership.
For highly technical founding teams, the more business or growth-oriented founder often ends up driving fundraising, partnerships, hiring, and operations. In some cases, Startups later hire experienced operators or CEOs while technical founders focus on product and engineering.
It is also increasingly important today to discuss topics like founder vesting schedules, equity splits, decision-making rights, salaries, remote work expectations, and long-term commitment levels early on.
A proper shareholders agreement should always be set in place to ensure the company can run smoothly if disagreements happen later. It is wise to ensure there are clear terms for vesting, exits, buybacks, and what happens if a founder leaves early.
Congratulations on making it down here!
We often have great Startup ideas ourselves. The problem is, we need great entrepreneurs to run them. So, let us know if you are interested. Just mention "Looking to Venture Build Together" and we will get back to you!
More often, we also have Startups in our ecosystem looking for great people to join as co-founders, operators, growth leads, or technical talent. Let us know too.
If you happen to need tech co-founders, we can help you with that. We can help you as a tech/IT co-founder, as well as help you hire one as you grow bigger.
