CoPilotry playbooks
Practical playbooks on finding a co-founder, building an advisory board and sourcing first hires: briefs that can be tested, search mechanics, outreach that gets replies, and vetting that holds up.
Written by Lars Andersson, a practising recruitment consultant. Every article states its assumptions, so the numbers can be re-derived or argued with rather than taken on trust.
A search-firm approach to finding a co-founder: write a testable brief, compare nine sourcing channels, size the funnel, and run a six-week search with a paid trial.
Read the playbookWhy strong engineers decline co-founder offers, what makes a non-technical founder worth joining, where to source technical co-founders, and how to assess ability you cannot read yourself.
Read the playbookA sourcing method for startup advisors: define the decision you need help with, identify the twenty people who have already made it, approach them without asking for a favour, and structure the relationship so it survives month four.
Read the playbookHow to write a co-founder brief, source candidates from public evidence, run the search as a funnel, and test the partnership before any equity is signed.
A search-firm approach to finding a co-founder: write a testable brief, compare nine sourcing channels, size the funnel, and run a six-week search with a paid trial.
Read the playbookWhy strong engineers decline co-founder offers, what makes a non-technical founder worth joining, where to source technical co-founders, and how to assess ability you cannot read yourself.
Read the playbookHow to vet a co-founder properly: background verification, 24 questions that produce real answers, a 90-day paid trial design, reference calls, and the terms to agree before signing.
Read the playbookHow to find startup advisors tied to a specific decision, approach them without asking for a favour, and structure equity so the relationship survives past month four.
A sourcing method for startup advisors: define the decision you need help with, identify the twenty people who have already made it, approach them without asking for a favour, and structure the relationship so it survives month four.
Read the playbookWhat to pay a startup advisor in equity: benchmark ranges by stage and engagement level, how vesting and cliffs work, when to pay cash instead, and the clauses that prevent a dead grant.
Read the playbookThe search mechanics: Boolean and X-ray strings, searching for experience that is not a keyword, and the outreach that turns a shortlist into conversations.
Boolean and X-ray search strings that founders can use to source co-founders and advisors, where keyword search breaks down, and how to search for experience that is not a keyword.
Read the playbookThe structure of a founder outreach message that works, eight annotated templates for co-founder and advisor approaches, follow-up sequencing, and the reply rates to expect.
Read the playbookSet base filters, describe the experience that actually decides the outcome in plain English, and get ranked profiles with the evidence and links attached. 300 free credits.
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