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That's an accurate point in my experience.

My suggestion is to prioritize the quality of partners over the specific idea you are working on. Someone capable of moving mountains and chewing glass is a truly rare ally, and there are countless people who pick sexy startup ideas and are incapable of executing at the level that a startup requires. You'll likely pivot anyway, so the idea doesn't matter too much to begin with, but you'll be stuck with someone who's either incredible to work with, or not. Most people aren't cut out for the founder role, you learn this the hard way eventually, and that's ok. Just don't end up stuck for years with someone who's not meant for it.

Unfortunately high potential founders are rare and you have to spend a few months working with someone who looks good on paper to find out if they're one. Takes a lot of time, and unlike a VC you only have one pipe to run experiments with, but that's the nature of the game. And there's a non-trivial chance that you yourself are not exceptional, meaning that it's unlikely you'll end up pairing with someone stellar because they know they can do much better.

Overall a really hard problem, but serendipity still happens regularly in this space, so it's worth giving it a shot, but be prepared for this to possibly take a while. Personal networks and vetted connections are a godsend here if you have access to them.




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