Collate’s Post

Why I chose Surbhi as my co-founder and joined her to build Collate When Surbhi Sarna and I had the privilege of working with founders at Y Combinator, we often advised them on one of the most important decisions they’ll ever make: choosing a cofounder. YC cofounder Jessica Livingston has wise advice on this topic (https://lnkd.in/gGVxVpFb): Choose carefully—someone you already have a strong relationship with, you’ve worked together, you know is effective and reliable, and who shares your ambitions and moral outlook. Never did I imagine that advice would come into play with Surbhi’s 8-year-old son asking, “Is this another co-founder date?” It was. And it wasn’t planned. That moment in Surbhi’s living room sparked a conversation that made one thing clear: Surbhi is the perfect founder for this journey. Her vision for Collate is rooted in her personal experience building a medical device company from concept through acquisition by Boston Scientific, and investing in hundreds of life sciences and software companies as a YC partner. Jessica says that there are three essential qualities in a startup founding team: “determination, domain expertise, and ability to sell,” and Surbhi brings all three. What sealed the deal for me was Surbhi’s relentless passion for solving hard problems, her unwavering commitment to advancing human health, and—honestly—how much the two of us laugh together. Building a startup is a privilege, and doing it alongside someone you admire and trust is extraordinarily rare. Surbhi’s leadership and conviction, our prior experiences building nVision and Lever, and our time working together at YC, make me certain we’re building something transformative with https://collate.com/. To all founders: choose your co-founder wisely—it’s the foundation of everything. To Surbhi: thank you for bringing me along for this incredible ride. And to everyone reading this, stay tuned. We’re just getting started.