Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Students were challenged to describe their research, scholarship or creative activity in 150 or fewer words to share with our community.

Perhaps you have a brilliant entrepreneurial idea but recognize you can’t pull it off alone. Who will be the Woz to your Jobs? Choosing a cofounder is a highly consequential decision, as founders have outsized influence over the trajectory and success of the venture, and blow-ups among them are a common source of venture failure. But it’s hard to know who is the “right” cofounder for you and your venture, especially in the early stages, amidst extreme novelty and uncertainty. My research on cofounders reveals that there are various dimensions of “cofounder fit” to consider when choosing a cofounder. By analyzing how different selection approaches and key cofounder dynamics are associated with satisfaction and venture performance, I seek to help entrepreneurs make informed cofounder selection decisions and maintain an effective cofounder relationship through all the ups and downs of starting a business.

Audra Quinn
PhD candidate
Ivey Business School - Western University

Supervisors
Darren Meister
Denis Grégoire

Audra Quinn is a PhD candidate at Ivey Business School (anticipated completion in Spring 2023). Her research area is entrepreneurial teams, and her dissertation focuses on how varying approaches to cofounder selection may affect key dynamics, cofounder satisfaction, and new venture performance. She is a mixed methods researcher and draws from her own experience selecting cofounders as a former CEO and startup founder.

You can connect with Audra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audraquinn/

View Audra's work as it appears in the Inspiring Minds Digital Collection: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/inspiringminds/105/