Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad • Hacker News Board

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

#21

Post by codazoda » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:27 PM UTC

Is there a place to match with microfounder types? I’d love to build a business but I don’t want to build a billion dollar business. I also have no plans to quit my day job anytime soon.

I don’t really know what the best idea is and need someone who can brainstorm the right idea and then keep me grounded on it.

I can build MVPs and launch. I lean toward absurdly simple, launched too early prototypes. I’m a web developer with 25 years of professional experience. These days I’m a director, mostly managing other devs, but I still love to get my hands dirty.

Anyway, I always thought the YC stuff was for people with bigger ambitions than mine. I have tried YC founder school, which is cool.

Reach out if you wanna chat.

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

#22

Post by robust-cactus » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:30 PM UTC

I've heard it works and it has caused companies to form and get funded.

I signed up like 1 week ago and I'm a 2nd time founder. It depends on your expectations and how you configure it is my read. For me, even though I'm technical, I'm mostly looking for other technical founders. Other than that, the thing I mainly want to feel when I read a profile is a sense of "oh this person would be fun to jam on ideas with" and in addition, "yea I think they got the same level of hustle/urgency as I do." Concurrently, I want to get a sense of the person's motivations - are they all about the $$, I'm a pass usually in that scenario. I just want to build something people love.

I think I've already seen a few people who match that criteria.

Aside: kinda worried about how many people are looking to start an "ai startup" rather than solve a problem which might involve AI.

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

#23

Post by ENadyr » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:30 PM UTC

So I’ve matched with 2 cofounders on there. And while I think finding a good cofounder is inherently hard, I’d say it’s the best platform that I’ve seen. It’s similar to relationship dating I guess.

One of the questions that I would add though, is whether the founder is married to a solution or is in search of a problem. First co-founder I worked with was great overall but he was married to a solution, that after talking to prospective users, I realized nobody really wanted.

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

#24

Post by altdataseller » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:30 PM UTC

codazoda wrote: post #21

Is there a place to match with microfounder types? I’d love to build a business but I don’t want to build a billion dollar business. I also have no plans to quit my day job anytime soon. I don’t really know what the best idea is and need someone who can brainstorm the right idea and then keep me grounded on it. I can build MVPs and launch. I lean toward absurdly simple, launched too early prototypes. I’m a web develo…

The best micro-founder partnerships are where both people have some knowledge of the industry they want to build a product in. But one of them is an engineer and the other is into sales.

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

#25

Post by fortylove » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:31 PM UTC

m348e912 wrote: post #3

Just do what Brian Armstrong did. It seemed to work out pretty well for him. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3754664

What was the outcome of that, did he find his cofounder from that thread?

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

#26

Post by swamp40 » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:31 PM UTC

m348e912 wrote: post #3

Just do what Brian Armstrong did. It seemed to work out pretty well for him. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3754664

Incredible. Looks like he finally found his co-founder on Reddit[0] though. Both billionaires now.

[0] https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/how-coinbases-founder-turne...

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

#27

Post by robertlagrant » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:32 PM UTC

codazoda wrote: post #21

Is there a place to match with microfounder types? I’d love to build a business but I don’t want to build a billion dollar business. I also have no plans to quit my day job anytime soon. I don’t really know what the best idea is and need someone who can brainstorm the right idea and then keep me grounded on it. I can build MVPs and launch. I lean toward absurdly simple, launched too early prototypes. I’m a web develo…

This might be one of those "MBA grads always think of startups that would help MBA grads" things but it might be fun to dip your toe in the water with a website that collects microbusiness ideas that people don't want to do, but might like to see

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

#28

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:34 PM UTC

codazoda wrote: post #21

Is there a place to match with microfounder types? I’d love to build a business but I don’t want to build a billion dollar business. I also have no plans to quit my day job anytime soon. I don’t really know what the best idea is and need someone who can brainstorm the right idea and then keep me grounded on it. I can build MVPs and launch. I lean toward absurdly simple, launched too early prototypes. I’m a web develo…

Might have a hard time, finding that, in this venue.

Most VCs are betting for The Big One, and microstartups are probably not gonna deliver that.

I would be a "microstartup" kind of guy. I hang around here for the community, not the opportunity.

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

#29

Post by amir734jj » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:37 PM UTC

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…

It's terrible indeed. The dating app style doesn't work + its full of buzzwords (blockchain and etc.).

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

#30

Post by dewey » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:39 PM UTC

altdataseller wrote: post #24

codazoda wrote: post #21

Is there a place to match with microfounder types? I’d love to build a business but I don’t want to build a billion dollar business. I also have no plans to quit my day job anytime soon. I don’t really know what the best idea is and need someone who can brainstorm the right idea and then keep me grounded on it. I can build MVPs and launch. I lean toward absurdly simple, launched too early prototypes. I’m a web develo…

The best micro-founder partnerships are where both people have some knowledge of the industry they want to build a product in. But one of them is an engineer and the other is into sales.

I also believe that and it's something I'm looking for in general (as a technical person), even if not actively at the moment.

There's always the trope about the "ideas guy" out there that wants someone to build them the tech for free or for equity. So far I have yet to meet such a person, but if the idea is good and interesting I'd be more than willing to give it a shot.