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Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

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Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#1

Post by tropchan »

I haven’t seen a great solution to this problem - have you? Many thought leaders have weighed in from Drew Houston who summarizes the dilemma well (http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-find-good-technical-co-founders) to Jason Freedman who gives great advice from the perspective of a non-technical person (http://humbledmba.com/please-please-please-stop-asking-how-to-find). The reality is that entrepreneurs come from a range of backgrounds across all sectors and finding someone you know well, trust, and is fully committed launching a biz (especially an unproven concept) is really hard. The advice many people offer is to use your network, go to meetups, and try online tools like http://founderdating.com. I have tried this, but frankly it’s not a quick process unless you are willing to pick someone you barely know (this works sometimes a la Kevin Rose).

So what’s the solution? My process is to put myself around the “type” of people I need to meet (this could be technical, a specific skill, etc). For me, I want to meet a CTO. However, instead of rushing the process I am simply looking to meet people as determined to build a company as myself. If they are technical or non-technical it doesn’t matter, but I believe opportunities will come from simply getting to know like-minded people. In the meantime I am following this approach: 1) Learning to code (at least the basics) 2) Do as much as possible to validate your idea (talk to customers/users, presell, etc) 3) Find a technical adviser that you trust (help with finding the right person) 4) Paying someone to prototype ($1-5K isn’t a lot to test a business) 5) Get to know potential Co-Founders

What do you think of this approach? Would a private facebook group an interesting ice-breaker to show what you are working on, get feedback, and make friendships - with the goal of helping and getting to people rather than solely finding a co-founder. If so, I made this: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842762052466224/. What's your solution to this problem? I am open to any and all ideas.

Re: Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#2

Post by 11thEarlOfMar »

It's like asking if we can brainstorm on a better way to find a spouse. Do you really want to find a spouse quickly? Or would you be more comfortable marrying your high-school sweetheart?

The YC folks will say founder breakups are the most common reason for start up failures. So what I'd want to see is a highly granular failure analysis of founder break ups. It's psychology, right? So something like the actual stories of 100 randomly selected startup failures would inform us as to the most common causes. Could be working styles, asymmetric effort, personality disorders, personal/family issues, health,... Once you have a histogram, find a way to test for those failure modes before getting hitched to a co-founder.

Re: Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#3

Post by bhayden »

I would stop focusing on finding a co-founder and focus instead on starting a business. A CTO isn't the solution to wanting something developed and not having money to pay someone. Find something you can do by yourself. If you're capable you will find and hire a CTO later.

Re: Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#4

Post by mkagenius »

While at it, its important not to forget the amount of founder disputes which kills the company as often as any other factor. Going solo can be hard but its not impossible. If your vision is clear as a business guy, you can hire freelancers to get a prototype, and market it yourself to get the early validation. Worrying about co-founders before that would be a waste of time in my opinion.

Re: Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#6

Post by alain94040 »

I gave a presentation on "how to find a co-founder" several times. Guess what: by slide 2, I give away the answer: the best co-founder is someone you already worked with. Not helpful? That's the truth.

Instead of trying to find a co-founder quickly, find a good contributor to your project. They may grow into becoming a co-founder over time, or they may "just" be your first employee. No one can really tell until time passes. So give it time, resist labels, and keep making progress.

From the perspective of the potential co-founder, the co-founder title is earned. "Be so good they can't ignore you" is exactly the mantra you want to become a co-founder. Make your contribution to the startup so significant that everyone will think of you as one of the founders.

Don't be that "paper co-founder" who negotiated the title but never put in the effort.

Re: Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#7

Post by EC1 »

You're not going to find a better way than founderdating (already established), LinkedIn (already established), and networking events in person.

You're not going to tick off some company-optimized checklist and magically fall into the lap of your perfect co founder.

People work for months or even years with a co founder only to realize they aren't a match.

You even said it yourself:

>I want to meet a CTO. However, instead of rushing the process I am simply looking to meet people as determined to build a company as myself.

Networking events, Linkedin, Founderdating, Angel.co etc. Your facebook group is tiers worse than the above listings so I'm not sure why you posted at all if your "solution" is a facebook group.

Sorry to be a dick but this doesn't remotely solve the problem. You just made Facebook group #1857126126.

Re: Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#8

Post by meira »

There is no such a thing as "technical co-founder". A developer can start and test a project faster alone. Smart "business" guys with money sometimes meet with someone that could do it alone and find a way to share the ride. If you want to develop something, I'd suggest you to learn how to develop. Or spend enough money to hire someone to do so. But for free, as a "co-founder", it'll always be hard and when it happens, usually it don't last long. And the fault is on the "business" side. Technology is not about business. If you start a free/open source project with a great purpose, you'll find tons of developers willing to help your endeavour.

Re: Ask HN: Can we brainstorm a better way to find a co-founder?

#10

Post by jasode »

>For me, I want to meet a CTO.

You have to realize that it's harder for a "business" guy to attract a technical cofounder rather than for a programmer whiz to attract a business guy. It's definitely a handicap. The programmer can build something and that can jumpstart the cascade of people (including business people) to join the cause.

As a non-tech person, what do you offer potential tech cofounders? If you give off vibes that "I'm the idea man!" or "I'm the guy with the big vision!", it will not impress quality programmers.

Therefore, you have to play up your strengths if you have notable ones. For example, perhaps you can call up some friends & family and raise $750,000 in cash to launch your product idea. A lot of programmers don't have the contacts to raise funds like that. Or maybe you want to create a digital music distribution website and you have Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga's personal cell phone #s on your speed dial as potential first wave of customers. Again, the typical programmer isn't going to have social connections like that.

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