Annie Garofalo (Stanford MBA & MA Sociology) is the founder of Confidante and a leading expert in early-stage partnership and co-founder dynamics. She built her research and advisory practice by applying relationship therapy frameworks to high-stakes business partnerships, helping co-founders, co-GPs, and business co-owners formalize how they work together at key inflection points. Her flagship Partnership Agreement Program - often described as “premarital counseling for business partners” - focuses on early, preventative support and has been delivered to 50+ leadership duos and trios.
To date, she has supported early stage founding teams (Pre-Seed through Series A) in preventing co-founder conflict across all industries and partners with leading accelerators, including YC, Antler, and NFX. She also hosts the How I Met My Co-Founder podcast, writes a newsletter on co-founder health, and is co-authoring the first academic study on co-founder conflict prevention with Stanford and Columbia. Previously, Annie advised Fortune 50 executive teams as a management consultant, co-founded an ethical fashion venture based in Guatemala, and led portfolio operations at an early-stage venture fund.
Can help with
- Co-Founder Dynamics / Building a Healthy Founding Team
- Co-Founder Search
- Partnership Agreements
- Shared Decision Making
- Roles and Responsibilities
