21–30 of 60 posts
But one thing I worry about is, assuming most companies don't live longer than a year or two, staying in the fields of early staged companies would essentially be the synonym to hopping around there, to me feels like to result in horrible resume.
How do you guys deal with this?
I’ll put this out there as a point that’s serious and I’ve come across a few times as both a founder and freelancer. No body wants to build your idea for free. For those that are reading this and thinking that finding a cofounder is actually just finding a set of hands you can work with, be buds and create your idea and you can split it 50-50 or whatever. Just stop. These people don’t exist in the random hallways of…
It reminds me of a guy who argued, as a beginner, I could never do security by myself. He pointed out the flaws, I fixed them. Eventually he said I just needed to hire a professional to do these things for me. His friend joked, you mean like you are doing right now? But this was wrong and that was wrong and this and that! His friend: But that is all fixed now isn't it?
An even better story: A guy I knew for a few weeks said he was going swimming. If I could answer his phone for a few hours and write down the messages. His phone rang the whole time! It was some kind of prank. People wanting to buy things, people wanting to sell things, people who owed him money, people he owed money to... It just kept ringing. He planned for it! He squeezed a ton of work into those 3 hours. He was very happy when he returned. A note book full of stuff. He only expected me to answer a few calls but I was to damn curious what the next call was about.
50%?? I did a bunch of coding project for free for peoples companies. Just for fun, no pressure. Last one would probably cost 50 k to get done.
5 min ago I was actually thinking that if I didn't find love I would quit my job and just go help this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6nobuceVd8
Why not?
It's better to be hungry and scrappy than born with a silver spoon and well-connected, although the rare combination of raw ambition tied with excellent connections is the ideal.
Worst case you bust out but your skills are 10x from the FAANG clock punchers. Good luck out there
It’s not a perfect answer but my the incubator my old startup was at would have networking happy hours People there despite already being in startups were super excited and interested in other peoples businesses I had a founder try to poach me at one point, so it’s real enough If there’s any kind of hub for startups in your city, start there. If not, check meetup.com or start your own. You’re certainly not alone and…
I've found one from https://startupschool.org , built a project together (i am the tech one), didn't continue finally because he wanted to continue with his startup and I don't feel like I can code and commit my time further. Weird experience, I would love to have another co-founder who can code together or even work together in something tbh. I guess having someone who can code with you together makes it more fun? R…
I’ll put this out there as a point that’s serious and I’ve come across a few times as both a founder and freelancer. No body wants to build your idea for free. For those that are reading this and thinking that finding a cofounder is actually just finding a set of hands you can work with, be buds and create your idea and you can split it 50-50 or whatever. Just stop. These people don’t exist in the random hallways of…
Idk, I've been dumb enough to do this twice now.
I would say that in today's remote-first world, building in public (and learning in public[1]) is the best way to get the attention of the stakeholders you desire -- not just prospective cofounders, but also investors, customers, partners, and contributors. (An aside -- this is one of many reasons I believe that commercial open source in particular has a very bright future.)
Some tangible ideas: Be active on twitter, start a podcast, write blog posts, stream on YT, deliver meetup/conference talks. Once you are more in the public eye, living in a Tier 1 city is the next step as it gives you a greater chance of meeting the people who discover you online!
Happy to chat more if you'd like! This subject or specific startup ideas if you're interested twitter.com/benghamine -- DM's open!
The best answer to your question is: At work.
If you think somebody might be a good potential co-founder that you know, ask them. Don't assume that they are not interested in building something with you. You never know what people think, and even if they say no today, they might come back around in the future.
Good luck!
I’ll put this out there as a point that’s serious and I’ve come across a few times as both a founder and freelancer. No body wants to build your idea for free. For those that are reading this and thinking that finding a cofounder is actually just finding a set of hands you can work with, be buds and create your idea and you can split it 50-50 or whatever. Just stop. These people don’t exist in the random hallways of…