Wellfound vs Foundinity: should you hire a cofounder or find one?

Side by side

The sections below go through each row, then cover when Wellfound does fit, how it compares with LinkedIn, and the questions people search most.

What Wellfound is

Wellfound is a job board for startups. It used to be AngelList Talent: its about page says AngelList Talent spun out as an independent company in November 2022 and was rebranded as Wellfound, and that "Wellfound and AngelList are separate companies." Its homepage calls it "The AI recruiting platform for startups". Job seekers make a profile and apply to roles. Companies post jobs, review applicants and reach out to candidates.

There's no cofounder matching on Wellfound. The homepage doesn't mention cofounders at all. What you'll find are two job categories, "Co-founder Jobs" (at /role/cofounder) and "Technical Co-Founder Jobs" (at /role/technical-co-founder), where startups list cofounder roles in the same format as any other opening.

What Foundinity is

Foundinity is a cofounder matching platform. It's built for one search: finding the person you'll start and run a company with. You state what you need in a cofounder, and answer an assessment about how you work: commitment, working style, ambition, personality, goals, values, alongside your skills and interests. A multi-trait algorithm built on established psychological compatibility models ranks the people you see.

Every match comes with a compatibility breakdown of where the two of you align and where you differ, and a 10-day clock so the conversation happens. You book the intro call in the app.

Hiring a cofounder vs finding one

This is the main difference between the two.

A job post has a company on one side and a candidate on the other. The company has written the role, decided what it needs and set the terms. The candidate applies, and the company chooses. That works well for an engineer or a salesperson. You're joining something that already exists, and you'll have a manager.

A cofounder search is different. Two people decide together what to build, who does what and how they'll work. Neither is hiring the other. You'll make hard calls together for years, so you need to know how the other person handles pressure, how much time they can give, and whether you want the same kind of company. A job application doesn't ask any of that.

Wellfound's own listings show how close the two get. Its "Co-founder Jobs" page lists roles titled "Co-Founder" and "CTO / Co-Founder" next to "Founding Engineer" and even "Investor". Each one has an Apply button, a location, often the years of experience required, and compensation details when the company adds them. That's a hiring format, applied to a title that usually means something else.

Foundinity starts from the partnership. Both sides joined to find a cofounder, both took the same assessment, and a match only happens when both of you like each other.

How each one works, step by step

On Foundinity

1. Sign up and say what you need in a cofounder. 2. Take the assessment about how you work. 3. Open the app to people ranked by compatibility. 4. Like the people you want to meet. A mutual like is a match. 5. Read the compatibility breakdown, then book the intro call in the app before the 10-day clock runs out.

On Wellfound, if you want to join a startup as a cofounder

1. Make a job seeker profile with your experience, the roles you're open to and where you want to work. 2. Open the "Co-founder Jobs" or "Technical Co-Founder Jobs" listings and narrow them by location or remote. 3. Apply to a listing. Wellfound's help centre says the note you send "is akin to a cover letter", and that you can't undo an application once it's sent. 4. Wait for the company to respond. If it doesn't act, the application expires after two weeks. 5. If the company replies, go through its process.

On Wellfound, if you're the one looking for a cofounder

1. Set up a company profile. Wellfound lets companies post jobs for free. 2. Write a job post with "cofounder" in the title. 3. Review the applicants, who reach you through a job board like candidates for any other role. 4. Interview them and work out, on your own, which of them wants a partnership and which wants a job.

On Foundinity, the first and last steps of both Wellfound routes are already covered: everyone wants a partnership, and the breakdown shows how you'd work together.

How you find people

On Wellfound you search job listings. You pick a role and a location, scroll the results and apply to the ones that look right. If you're the founder, you post a role and wait for applicants. Either way, the matching is the same as for any job: title, location, experience.

Foundinity ranks people for you. You state what you need, take the assessment, and see people ranked by compatibility on multiple dimensions around who you are and how you work. Skills tell you who can do the job. The rest tells you who you can actually build with for years.

Reaching out

On Wellfound, you apply. The company sees your jobs profile and your note, and decides whether to reply. Wellfound's help centre says each candidate can have only a set number of active applications at a time (it doesn't publish the number), so a scattered search can run into that cap.

On Foundinity, you like the people you want to meet. When the like is mutual, it's a match, and both of you can talk on equal terms. Nobody is the applicant.

What you know before the first call

A Wellfound listing tells you about the company: its size, its stage, the role and where it's based. It tells you very little about the person who'd be your cofounder, and nothing about how they work.

A Foundinity match comes with a compatibility breakdown that shows where you align and where you differ on the things the assessment covers. If you differ on commitment, you know to ask about it first. If you align on goals, you can spend the call on the idea.

After you connect

On Wellfound, the company runs the process. Its help centre says that "When a company doesn't take action on a job application, it expires after two weeks", because by then a reply is unlikely.

On Foundinity, a 10-day clock starts on every match, so neither side is left waiting. You book the intro call in the app with Google Calendar.

Privacy while you're employed

Wellfound has two profiles. Its help centre says your public profile is "always viewable when you have an account", while your jobs profile is only visible when you're actively searching. To keep your current employer from seeing that you're looking, you mark that job as current on your profile; Wellfound says the protection works "If set up correctly", and your employer can still see your public profile.

Foundinity doesn't publish your profile. Only members who are compatible with you can see it, and you can set your status to exploring if you're not ready to commit.

When Wellfound does fit

Wellfound is a good place to look for a startup job. If what you want is to join an early team as an engineer or a first salesperson, with a defined role and a company already running, that's what it's built for. A "Founding Engineer" listing can be a fine job.

It fits less well when you want to choose your partner and build something together from the start. That's a different decision, and it's the one Foundinity is built for. If you're weighing a cofounder against hiring developers, our post on technical cofounder or hire developers covers that choice.

Wellfound vs LinkedIn

People often compare these two, since both are about careers. Wellfound is a job board for startups: companies post roles and candidates apply. LinkedIn is a professional network where people keep their work history and message their connections. Neither is set up for a cofounder search. Wellfound treats a cofounder as a hire, and LinkedIn has no way to say you're looking. LinkedIn is the better of the two for checking someone's past work and finding mutual contacts. We compare it with Foundinity in LinkedIn vs Foundinity.

Which one fits your situation

You have an idea and need a partner. Use Foundinity. Everyone there is looking for a cofounder, and the ranking and breakdown show you who you'd work well with. Posting a cofounder job on Wellfound brings in job seekers you'd have to sort through yourself.

You're an engineer who wants to cofound, not be an early hire. On Wellfound, listings with that title are job posts from a company that has already started. On Foundinity, you meet founders as an equal, and you can see where you align before you commit any time.

You want a job at an early startup. Wellfound is built for that. Keep a Foundinity profile on exploring if you might want to start something yourself later.

You're employed and want to look quietly. Foundinity shows your profile only to compatible members. On Wellfound, you have to mark your current job correctly, and your public profile stays visible.

You're non-technical and need an engineer. In Y Combinator's 2021 numbers from its own matching platform, 80% of founders who didn't do engineering wanted a cofounder who did. A job post competes with every other opening an engineer sees. On Foundinity, the engineers you see joined to find a cofounder and are ranked by compatibility with you. Our guide on how to find a technical cofounder has more.

Which should you use?

If you're looking for the person you'll build a company with, use Foundinity. Both sides want a partnership, the ranking does the first sort, the compatibility breakdown gives the first call an agenda, and the 10-day clock keeps each match moving.

Use Wellfound when you're looking for a startup job. Whoever you meet, check them before you commit: look up their work history, talk to someone who has worked with them, and do a short project together first.