The 65% Cofounder Stat Is Wrong. So Is My Website.

The 65% cofounder conflict statistic is wrong, and I cited it for years. It sits on my website and on the homepage of nearly every cofounder coach I can find. Here is the 1989 study it actually comes from, what it really measured, and why nobody has fixed it in thirty-five years — which turns out to be a story about money rather than science. Ninety-six troubled companies. Eleven boxes on the survey. In sixty-two of them the investors checked the same box — "ineffective senior management" — and then the form ended. Nobody asked what was in the box. CHAPTERS: 0:00 — Introduction: 96 companies, 11 boxes 0:38 — I cited this statistic too 1:14 — Where the 65% actually comes from 2:44 — How "senior management" became "cofounder conflict" 4:06 — Why everyone believed it 5:02 — Why an investor is the wrong instrument 6:35 — Why founders won't admit they did the work 7:36 — Why nobody has fixed it in 35 years 8:47 — Nobody funds it: the venture math 9:33 — What distress does to founder cognition 10:35 — What cofounder coaching is actually built on 11:05 — Where couples research stops transferring 12:31 — The Institute for Founder Dynamics 13:13 — Researchers, investors, and coaches: read this 🔬 The Institute for Founder Dynamics: https://founderdynamics.org 🔍 Take the Cofounder Pattern Diagnosis (free, 5 min): https://cofounder-pattern.lovable.app 📖 The Cofounder Effect (book): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH7LM9FR 🤝 Cofounder Coaching: https://cofounderclarity.com 📧 Contact: matt@cofounderclarity.com SOURCE: Gorman, M., & Sahlman, W. A. (1989). What Do Venture Capitalists Do? Journal of Business Venturing, 4(4), 231–248. Survey mailed to ~100 venture capitalists in December 1984; 49 responses; 96 troubled portfolio companies assessed against 11 possible contributing factors. Senior management was ranked the single most important factor in 62 of 96 (~65%), and cited as a contributing factor in 91 of 96 (95%). ───────────── About Dr. Matthew Jones: Licensed clinical psychologist. Gottman-trained. Author of The Cofounder Effect. For the last 6 years I've worked exclusively with co-founding teams — helping founders diagnose, navigate, and fix the most important relationship in their startup. #CofounderConflict #StartupFounders #FounderMentalHealth