Three months ago, I started searching for a cofounder for my robotics startup in California. The ideal candidate profile was clear: 10x engineer, top-tier school credentials (helpful for fundraising pre-traction), located in the SF Bay Area.
After three months of searching—including creative outreach that generated half a dozen face-to-face interviews—I found exactly zero cofounders.
The Expiration Date
Here's the thing about cofounder searches: they have an expiration date. At some point, the business needs to move to its next phase, with or without the perfect cofounder. I hit that point two weeks ago during a manufacturing trip to China.
While there, I did some math. The cost of flying to China and staying for two weeks was two orders of magnitude less than paying a single month's SF Bay Area salary for an engineer ($2K/month vs $160/year + $2K/month benefits + $25K capital rais bonus + equity).
That's when I realized I was optimizing for the wrong constraint.
Splitting the "Ideal" Cofounder
I was looking for someone who was both a 10x engineer and had top-tier credentials. But what if I split that persona into two separate hires?
New approach:
Hire 1: Remote high-performer via Upwork
- $20-80/hour (2x to 4x cheaper than SF startup salaries)
- Autonomous, enthusiastic, hard worker
- Location: anywhere
Hire 2: Part-time advisor with tier-1 credentials
- Equity only
- Primary role: help with fundraising credibility
- Location: anywhere
My wife is okay with me traveling, so I dropped the location filter entirely.
The Problem With Remote at This Stage
Here's where it gets tricky. I'm still at the very early MVP stage. The ideation and trial-and-error loop is brutally fast—especially because I'm using Claude Code to implement ideas. (I use Claude for everything in MVP prototyping, and it's been fantastic.)
The problem: that fast iteration loop doesn't work well with remote. If I send specs in the evening, get implementation in the morning, test during the day, and repeat—we're already adding 12+ hour delays to each cycle. When you're running multiple cycles per day in-person, going remote feels like moving through molasses.
The Solution: Hybrid "Out-Person" + Remote
Here's what I'm planning:
- Fly to the freelancer's city
- Stay in a hotel for 1-2 weeks
- Bring hardware and MVP prototype with me
- Work face-to-face to get them to 100% productivity
- Return home
- Work remotely until the next in-person sprint is needed
- Repeat
The cost structure makes sense. A week or two of travel + accommodation + focused work is still 10x dramatically cheaper than SF salaries. And I can work from anywhere with my laptop.
What do you think about it?
- Has anyone else tried this hybrid approach? How did it work out?
- What are the failure modes I'm not seeing?
- Is this sustainable long-term?
I know this is unconventional. Most advice says "MVP phase = everyone in the same room." But most advice also assumes you have the capital to pay SF salaries or the network to find cofounders quickly.
I don't have either, but I do have a laptop, Claude Code, and the ability to get on a plane.
Maybe that's enough.
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