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David J. Phillips tried co-founders four times before he went solo. With $40,000 left in the bank after a stalled aquihire, he refounded the company alone — and built Fondo, the accounting platform now used by hundreds of YC and pre-seed startups. The conversation is part founder-confessional, part early-stage GTM playbook.

Topics covered:

The four co-founder breakups across four prior startups
Refounding with $40K and a single investor email
The lived playbook for co-founder breakups (lawyer advice, severance + stock + move on)
The four-question $40K filter for picking ideas you can ship solo
The Sam Parr false bottom — first customer, three months of nothing
The Delaware-franchise-tax mini-product wedge that produced the first ten paying customers
Bear case and bull case for solo founding
"Your co-founder lives in Claude now" — the closing argument

Guest: David J. Phillips — founder & CEO of Fondo, the accounting and tax platform for venture-backed startups.