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Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

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Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#11

Post by dpifke »

Is your title, "YC co-founder matching is bad", saying that https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching is bad? Or is it meant as a general complaint about finding a co-founder for YC?

If you've had a bad experience with YC's co-founder matching platform, I'd love to hear why you think it's bad. I haven't used it, but I've heard OK things about it from folks who have.

If you're suggesting that HN should do something else, in addition to—or instead of—YC co-founder matching, what would this accomplish that the co-founder matching platform isn't currently?

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#12

Post by andrewstuart »

I tried the YC founder matching thing several years ago. It was terrible. It asked all sorts of irrelevant questions and then used the answers to disqualify me from the service.

They overthought the problem. All thats needed is a list of people who are looking to connect plus their resume and a summary paragraph. Like a dating website basically. To keep it fresh and focused it should require you click a”still looking” email link once a week. Maybe fields for location/are you technical.

It might have changed in recent years but I never went back.

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#14

Post by NickC25 »

I wish there was a monthly post like this! There should be a monthly project post "Hey, I'm working on X, I need help with Y" or something like that.

Example: I'm not very technical, but I'm very much into the product, operations, and market-fit/research side of things, and have access to funding. I want to join a team where I can grow and learn things, but also do cool shit with cool people. Currently, I'm running a small business as a side-hustle to build a bit of capital, but want to jump back into tech/startups as soon as I can.

I would imagine a monthly post highlighting skills and projects would be great - would be great for people who need something to do, project work, upskilling work for CV building, etc...

I've actually had a few conversations that started from HN posts about what other folks are working on, and they were really enjoyable and I was fortunate to learn interesting things.

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#15

Post by bombcar »

mtmail wrote: post #6

Such threads exist, but users don't upvote them "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Feb 2023)" ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34613562 ) "Ask HN: Who is looking for a co-founder?" ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34817765 ) "Ask HN: Co-Founder? Seeking Co-Founder?" ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34629357 )

They apply to a small subset, so they'd have to be artificially inflated.

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#16

Post by exolymph »

Cofounder matching is a market for lemons, much like online dating. The best prospects are either never on the open market, or get snapped up very quickly. So it's always a problem of sorting through many low-quality options to find diamonds in the rough (and if you can find one, upgrading a rough diamond to a shiny diamond is still a nontrivial process). Point being, cofounder matching is inherently a frustrating grind.

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#17

Post by billllll »

andrewstuart wrote: post #12

I tried the YC founder matching thing several years ago. It was terrible. It asked all sorts of irrelevant questions and then used the answers to disqualify me from the service. They overthought the problem. All thats needed is a list of people who are looking to connect plus their resume and a summary paragraph. Like a dating website basically. To keep it fresh and focused it should require you click a”still looking…

I'm curious, how did you get disqualified? I've been using the platform and wasn't even aware it was possible to get disqualified.

The questions seemed very fair, though I know they've been iterating on them so it may be different from when you used it.

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#18

Post by [deleted] »

billllll wrote: post #17
andrewstuart wrote: post #12

I tried the YC founder matching thing several years ago. It was terrible. It asked all sorts of irrelevant questions and then used the answers to disqualify me from the service. They overthought the problem. All thats needed is a list of people who are looking to connect plus their resume and a summary paragraph. Like a dating website basically. To keep it fresh and focused it should require you click a”still looking…

I'm curious, how did you get disqualified? I've been using the platform and wasn't even aware it was possible to get disqualified. The questions seemed very fair, though I know they've been iterating on them so it may be different from when you used it.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#19

Post by notpushkin »

bombcar wrote: post #15
mtmail wrote: post #6

Such threads exist, but users don't upvote them "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Feb 2023)" ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34613562 ) "Ask HN: Who is looking for a co-founder?" ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34817765 ) "Ask HN: Co-Founder? Seeking Co-Founder?" ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34629357 )

They apply to a small subset, so they'd have to be artificially inflated.

I think “what are you working on” is pretty much the widest possible thread where you can find a cofounder.

Re: Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad

#20

Post by glass3 »

It would be helpful if the ideas are clustered. Only non-focused founders will spend their time on reading all ideas, which is needed to find matches in specialized areas.

YC could offer hierarchical subreddits for business sectors. It would be possible to collaborate with founders who are attracted to the same topic and it would be possible to offer opportunities to people who want to work in the broader area.

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