There's a big difference between these two: 1. Co-founder who clearly signals respect and self-reflection, and who much later reveals they have a penchant for

There's a big difference between these two: 1. Co-founder who clearly signals respect and self-reflection, and who much later reveals they have a penchant for the occasional debate and dis-attachment from their own ideas. 2. A co-founder who signals they like debates in a candidate meeting. I rankly speculate here on HN that if OP always avoids #2, not only will nothing bad happen as a result, but they will also decrease the chance of choosing a bad candidate. I further rankly speculate this for any founder. HN debates are fun, but they hide the fact that debate is a low-effort tool. Like drinking alcohol, it can be useful. But if it moves from being a mere implementation detail to becoming part of the API in a candidate meeting: run!