How does Trusted Cofounder actually work?
Trusted Cofounder is a public, free directory. Anyone can sign up, appear in the /talent catalogue, and write a short free-text description of what they're looking for. There is no scoring, no matching algorithm, and no AI ranking — you browse or filter the directory yourself, and send an interest to start a conversation.
Is there a matching algorithm?
No. Trusted Cofounder used to run a weighted brief-matching engine; that system was retired. Today the product is a plain public directory: sign up, appear at trustedcofounder.com/talent by default, and let people browse and filter for you. There is no score, no ranking algorithm, and no AI involved in deciding who sees whom.
What do I actually fill in?
Onboarding is two steps: pick your role (founder, cofounder, or still exploring) and set your name and photo. Everything else is optional and edited later from your dashboard: skills, seniority, location, a few links to your work (GitHub, a personal site, writing, a portfolio), and a short “Looking for” description, up to 500 characters, that shows up on your card and profile.
None of these fields gate whether you appear in the directory. The only switch that matters is your public-listing toggle. A brand-new account with nothing filled in beyond a name still gets a public profile page.
How do people find each other?
By browsing and filtering /talent: role, city, skills, and seniority. There is also a small keyword search on the homepage that checks a typed description against public profiles' skills, city, and “Looking for” text and returns a short, anonymized list of overlapping candidates. It is a convenience filter, not a ranking engine — nothing is scored beyond a plain count of matching words.
What happens once I find someone?
You send an interest. If they accept, a conversation opens and you message each other directly from the dashboard. Trusted Cofounder does not get involved in that conversation or in whatever you agree to afterward.
What is the Verified Builder badge?
A badge shown when you've added at least one plain link to real work: a GitHub username, a personal site, published writing, a portfolio, or a Semantic Scholar author page. Nothing is fetched or verified automatically — the badge simply reflects that you linked somewhere real.
Why isn't there an algorithm anymore?
The earlier weighted-scoring system added complexity (parsing, re-ranking, a publish gate) without a clear sign it produced better introductions than a founder just reading five profiles themselves. A public, filterable directory is simpler to reason about, cheaper to run, and honest about what the product actually does: helps you find people, not a black-box recommendation.
Read about finding a cofounder in Finland for the live numbers, or compare the platforms in this side-by-side.