Ask HN: How to find co-founders • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#21

Post by mhhughes8 » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 4:08 PM UTC

shekhar101 wrote: post #2

IMHO, the best way to find like minded co-founders is to actively attend meetups, hackathons, conferences and related events. You will be surprised how often you will find passionate people who are very much willing to work and join forces with people like you.

We agree that offline methods are very important to the co-founder search too. In addition to an online matching platform at CoFoundersLab.com, CoFoundersLab holds quarterly Matchups events in many cities (via Meetup) to facilitate some of the "in-person dating" for founders: http://www.cofounderslab.com/entrepreneurs-meetup-networking

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#22

Post by spinlock » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 4:21 PM UTC

I would go to car lots and talk to as many salesmen as you can. You might find someone who's interested and they would have industry experience. Set a goal of 100 car lots and hit the pavement. When you're done you might not have a partner but you'll have a lot of data.

Then, choose another venue, lather, rinse, repeat. You just need to dedicate yourself to solving this priblem. Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#23

Post by wusatiuk » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

I would also suggest not to look for a cofounder, per se. Try to get a working MVP and get some progress yourself. Even if you are a pure software guy, you are easily able to learn the 1x1 of business development as biz dev is nothing more than 0 and 1. :) I mean, the rules are the same for code & business. There are some variables, some loops, some functions, that is it.

I would not specifically search for a cofounder, but search for the right people who can help you to push the product, even without getting 30% of your company. people who like to talk about idea, help you with daily problem startup problems,...

within a very short time, you will learn much about people, how they act and you will soon find one or more people who are really interested in pushing you project forward.

just because i am curious - is the tool planned for the european or us market?

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#24

Post by ldec » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 5:07 PM UTC

I agree with most of the comments here, but wanted to add that when you are ready, if you are in the US, most business schools have an 'entrepreneurship club' or something similar, which mostly have a group of business-savvy people desperately looking for technical co-founders. The students running these clubs will be very receptive to an email from someone like you.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#25

Post by valarauca1 » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 5:13 PM UTC

wusatiuk wrote: post #23

I would also suggest not to look for a cofounder, per se. Try to get a working MVP and get some progress yourself. Even if you are a pure software guy, you are easily able to learn the 1x1 of business development as biz dev is nothing more than 0 and 1. :) I mean, the rules are the same for code & business. There are some variables, some loops, some functions, that is it. I would not specifically search for a cofound…

Both that standards organization I'm within/from is based in the EU, but is strongly catching on within the US. Several companies have adopted within just a year.

I'm based in the US, but there will be an EU market.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#26

Post by arsalanb » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 5:37 PM UTC

I want to share an experience that I think will provide a different perspective. Might not be true in everybody's case, but just my two cents.

People often claim that having a deep-rooted work history and relation with a person and knowing them well suggests they could be somebody you can work on a startup with. My experience has proven, that this isn't always true. Having somebody you know inside-out work on you with a startup is a good thing, but also make sure that you don't mix your emotions with your work.

Your best-friend or fiancé might make a great co-founder (considering they work in the same space as you), but it always makes it harder to talk business with them. Emotions are always ugliest when they surface in work conditions. Your cofounder is slacking? Just give them a subtle reminder. Oh wait, now you can't because he's also your best friend so he expects you to let this slide.

Bad for business, worse when said business is in its earliest stages.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#27

Post by alimoeeny » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 5:39 PM UTC

swah wrote: post #8

Sad to say, but I'll probably go alone when I try to create another business. The first time I tried to start with best friends, they jumped off after a couple months and I hated them for it.

Sir, Why did you do that. I am sorry to hear that. As other's have said, finding a co-founder is like finding a wife, you just don't assume your best friend will be a good life partner. and you can ruin your friendship this way.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#28

Post by 7Figures2Commas » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 5:45 PM UTC

Short answer: don't.

Long answer: if you feel you can't get started in any meaningful way on your own, hire somebody who can assist you. While truly good people can be hard to find, it will be a thousand times easier to find a competent paid consultant than a competent co-founder. After all, why in the world would somebody experienced who has valuable skills that can be monetized want to start a business with someone he or she doesn't have a long-standing relationship with? The folks who would be interested in this are precisely the folks you want to avoid.

Additional benefits of paying instead of partnering include the ability to retain full control and ownership of your business (if one materializes) as well as the ability to quickly and cleanly terminate the person you retain if he or she is unable to meet your needs.

If the person you retain delivers and there's a great personal fit that would lend itself to an ongoing collaboration, there's nothing stopping you from later negotiating a co-founder relationship.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#29

Post by rmena123 » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 6:00 PM UTC

In a perfect world yea it would be great to find someone from working on projects or school or years and years of knowing someone. I am in the same position as you, I am more of a designer/business guy. I don't have years to wait around and hope someone pops up. I am not sure what will happen in the future, but I know this it comes down to luck and no one way, I don't care what YC says, yes in a perfect world they maybe right, but I live it now and so do you.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#30

Post by taksintik » Mon, Jul 28, 2014, 6:02 PM UTC

Finance / biz development guy here. It's real hard talking long term monetization strategy with some developers. I've tried cofounders meetings but been unable to find a The right type of hungry. I think it may be the fact that i live in Thailand. A country rich in programming drifters.