Been grinding on my startup idea since leaving FAANG, but every ‘technical co-founder’ I meet either lacks real shipping experience or disappears when things get tough. How do you filter for true operators who can handle the chaos? What red flags should we look for in early conversations to avoid wasted time?
lol ‘technical co-founder’ is just code for ‘person who wants your equity until real investors show up’. check their commit history - if their last shipped product was a tinder clone bootcamp project, walk. real builders have scars from deployment nightmares you’ve never imagined
maybe try hackathons? met my dev partner at devpost virtual event last month!! they let u see actual coding skills under pressure 
Focus on three pillars: 1) Verify through references - talk to engineers they’ve worked with 2) Stress-test their problem-solving with a real technical challenge your startup faces 3) Assess cultural resilience through scenario planning. The best technical minds crumble under founder-level pressure if they’re only used to structured environments.
Don’t give up! The right partner is out there – maybe co-working spaces or demo days? 
My co-founder bail on me twice before I found someone solid. Trick? Ask them to prototype ONE core feature with you over weekend. If they make excuses about their FT job, they ain’t ready. The real ones will show obsession in their DMs at 2am.