I’ve spent my career building companies—and learning what it takes to build with another person.
I have co-founded four companies, including Trulioo. For about 25 years, I built and exited companies with the same cofounder.
That experience taught me that the partnership is not a side issue. It is part of how the business works.
Tanis Jorge · Cofounder, author, advisor
Background
Four-time cofounder
Cofounder of Trulioo
About 25 years building with cofounders
Author of The Cofounder's Handbook
The partnership behind the companies
For most of my career, I built with the same person. We started companies, made hard decisions, grew teams, made mistakes, worked through them and exited companies together.
The business changed many times. So did our roles, our responsibilities and the pressure around us. The partnership had to change too.
I learned that a strong cofounder relationship does not run on chemistry alone. It needs clear expectations, honest conversations and a way to revisit decisions as the company grows.
Together
Started companies with the same cofounder.
Through change
Roles, responsibilities and pressure kept shifting.
Through decisions
Hard calls, growing teams, mistakes and repair.
Through exits
Built and exited companies side by side.
What the experience taught me
01
Good partnerships are designed, not assumed.
Trust matters. So do clear roles, decision rights and agreements that can change when the business changes.
02
Difference is not the problem. Hidden expectations are.
Cofounders can want different things and still work well together—when those differences are visible and discussed.
03
The best time to address a hard issue is before it becomes a crisis.
Small unresolved concerns become patterns. Patterns become resentment. Early conversations create more choices.
Why I created The Cofounder’s Hub
“I built Cofounder Discovery because cofounder problems rarely begin with one dramatic fight. They grow from assumptions, postponed decisions, and conversations no one knew they needed to have.”
While writing The Cofounder’s Handbook, I interviewed hundreds of founders and experts. Those conversations showed me how often capable people struggle with the partnership itself—not because they chose badly, but because no one taught them how to build that part of the company on purpose.
The Cofounder’s Hub brings that work together: practical guidance, structured tools and honest conversations for founders building side by side.
Where this work lives today
Build the company. Take care of the partnership.
The strongest cofounder teams do not avoid hard conversations. They learn how to have them earlier, more clearly and with more care.
Strengthen the partnership behind the business.
Join founders receiving practical cofounder guidance, new insights and updates.