How do you find cofounders?

#1

Post by Yxven » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:25 PM UTC

I love entrepreneurship, but my projects consistently fail due to the exhaustion of juggling every ball. I've never sought others for help for three reasons: 1) My resume is practically non-existent, and I doubt I'd be able to negotiate a fair split with strangers. 2) I haven't befriended anyone knowledgeable enough about tech to cofound with that isn't otherwise engaged. 3) I don't have any money.

How do you find cofounders? How would you overcome being worthless on paper?

Re: How do you find cofounders?

#2

Post by ares2012 » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:45 PM UTC

Co-founders are by far the hardest part of starting a venture. Everyone has ideas, everyone has time and most of us have some money to invest in our own projects. Finding a co-founder is something you can't control yourself so it's always the first big hurdle.

The good news is that there are a ton of people just like you having trouble finding co-founders themselves. Great ways to meet them are:

1. Meetups. These days, services like Meetup make it easy to find meetings of people interested in the same things you are. Whatever area you think you'd like to start a company, start going to a meetup or start your own meetup.

2. Classes. Class is always a great way to meet people and work together. This doesn't need to be full time school, I've met great people in night classes (even in cooking classes).

3. Start blogging. If you start writing about the topics that interest you and start reading blogs by other people on the same topic you'll realize who is like-minded. It's a lot easier to know someone is the right fit if you've already read their thoughts on the matter.

4. Join a start up. This is the best option. Join an existing start up company. They are always full of people who are smart, take risks and will probably be interested in exploring your ideas with you. You can easily find start up companies in your area by browing the sites of nearby Venture Capital funds (see their investment portfolio) or searching Crunchbase.

Hope this helps.

Re: How do you find cofounders?

#3

Post by fapi1974 » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:48 PM UTC

I'd be curious to see what you've built. I'm pretty sure that's what everyone will say!

Re: How do you find cofounders?

#4

Post by ndaugherty18 » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:52 PM UTC

1.Go to meetups for languages and like minded individuals (this is harder in small towns) 2. Work on opensource 3. The are sites like techcofounder and such, not sure how well they are though. 4.Another big city thing, go work in a coworking space (this does cost some money)

Re: How do you find cofounders?

#5

Post by DevX101 » Wed, May 04, 2011, 6:16 PM UTC

ares2012 wrote: post #2

Co-founders are by far the hardest part of starting a venture. Everyone has ideas, everyone has time and most of us have some money to invest in our own projects. Finding a co-founder is something you can't control yourself so it's always the first big hurdle. The good news is that there are a ton of people just like you having trouble finding co-founders themselves. Great ways to meet them are: 1. Meetups. These day…

Regarding your last option, I respectfully disagree that it's the best option. It is likely that an 'existing startup company' has already found it's co-founders, and a new hire will probably be coming on as an employee.

I think the risk/reward ratio are unfavorable for early EMPLOYEES in a vast majority of the cases.

Re: How do you find cofounders?

#6

Post by ares2012 » Thu, May 05, 2011, 12:43 AM UTC

DevX101 wrote: post #5

ares2012 wrote: post #2

Co-founders are by far the hardest part of starting a venture. Everyone has ideas, everyone has time and most of us have some money to invest in our own projects. Finding a co-founder is something you can't control yourself so it's always the first big hurdle. The good news is that there are a ton of people just like you having trouble finding co-founders themselves. Great ways to meet them are: 1. Meetups. These day…

Regarding your last option, I respectfully disagree that it's the best option. It is likely that an 'existing startup company' has already found it's co-founders, and a new hire will probably be coming on as an employee. I think the risk/reward ratio are unfavorable for early EMPLOYEES in a vast majority of the cases.

That is true, but working at a start up for 2-3 years you will meet all the other employees that work at the start up company. It's those people (not the founders of the existing company) that are fertile ground for starting your own company. It does require a few years of time investment but most of the start up founder teams I know started this way.

Re: How do you find cofounders?

#7

Post by abbasmehdi » Thu, May 05, 2011, 7:07 AM UTC

Here! But be careful, find somebody as driven as you.

Re: How do you find cofounders?

#8

Post by wordchute » Fri, May 06, 2011, 4:39 PM UTC

Hello Yxven, I'm sort of in the same boat as you... I have been working on my start-up for a few months now, but I'm basically at a point where there's too much to do by myself. I'm more or less committed to seeing my project through, but I give each other a little advice or whatever.