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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

#61

Post by thecleaner »

lagniappe wrote: post #32
999900000999 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I've met plenty of idea guys in real life. I can't imagine the internet somehow being worse. It's always ' I want Multi billion dollar company X combined with multi billion dollar company Z. Build this for me in exchange for 2.5% equity vested over 5 years.' Then if you do waste a weekend on a POC you'll hear it doesn't match their vision. You don't even get a thank you from these jerks. TBH I've given up…

Make the POC your business, call yourself a market-fit engineer and "yes, right away" all the way to early retirement.

Jesus Christ. This is such an amazing idea.

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

#62

Post by cwcw »

snowmaker wrote: post #48

Hello - I'm one of the people at YC who work on YC's co-founder matching site (which, if you aren't familiar with it, is at https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching ). It's not totally clear to me if OP is referring to that product specifically or something else, but I figured I would take the opportunity to get feedback anyway! We are very actively working on the co-founder matching site and would love to hear…

First of all, thanks for building it and as a user, the product is solid that matches the needs well. Note that I used 'matches' not 'solves' as the problem itself is so messy and difficult that a product like this could help but fundamentally it requires two people working together, which is super hard.

My way of somehow hacking it is to come in with low or no expectation. There are otherwise tons of great people on YC co-founder matching site, and almost all conversations I've had were excellent. Even if it didn't help me find a cofounder, I still rate the product highly.

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

#63

Post by skeeter2020 »

shrimpx wrote: post #35
exolymph wrote: post #16

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 gr…

I disagree about online dating. Increasingly, my peers who end up in long term relationships or married have found each other on dating apps. Dating only coworkers and friends gets boring and limiting.

>> Dating only coworkers and friends gets boring and limiting.

It's a network problem; this is where you start but not necessarily end.

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

#64

Post by ezekg »

I've thought about this too. I tried YC's co-founder matching, looking for a co-founder for my current company. But it's all new founders (i.e. no experience running or even building a company). It's kind of like Indie Hackers -- it's full of wantrepreneurs (nothing wrong with that!), with very little entrepreneurs.

There's gotta be a better way.

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

#65

Post by hgomersall »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #58
exolymph wrote: post #16

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 gr…

Wouldnt be surprised to find a bunch of "idea guys" looking for a programmer to implement their idea, meanwhile they "sell" to clients.

As an ideas guy that can program, I super value people that want to sell stuff.

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

#66

Post by justinzollars »

snowmaker wrote: post #48

Hello - I'm one of the people at YC who work on YC's co-founder matching site (which, if you aren't familiar with it, is at https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching ). It's not totally clear to me if OP is referring to that product specifically or something else, but I figured I would take the opportunity to get feedback anyway! We are very actively working on the co-founder matching site and would love to hear…

One thing that could improve is that it seems to filter on age and location. It should filter on specific skills.

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

#67

Post by itronitron »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #53
exolymph wrote: post #16

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 gr…

This reminds me of the old joke: an economist is walking down the street with a friend, and the friend says, "Look! There's a $20 bill on the ground!" The economist replies, "Nah, if there were, somebody would've picked it up already," The real world is messy. There are many reasons why a suitable cofounder might be found through a matching service, or a life partner, or even just a fun date. YCombinator was founded…

A friend of mine once found a $100 bill on the street, at night on a city street near restaurants and bars, which makes me wonder if $100 bills are more likely to be found than $20 bills. Or maybe people under report finding $20 bills since it isn't as memorable an experience.

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

#68

Post by itronitron »

thecleaner wrote: post #61
lagniappe wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make the POC your business, call yourself a market-fit engineer and "yes, right away" all the way to early retirement.

Jesus Christ. This is such an amazing idea.

I'm willing to offer lagniappe 2.5% equity vested over 5 years if they build this for me. Which reminds me of something I read once on the internet, paraphrased ... "build the thing that you want or be forced to build the thing that somebody else wants"

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

#69

Post by mettamage »

exolymph wrote: post #16

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 gr…

My experience with Tinder does not match what you describe as "lemons". I'm an average looking guy at best. To be fair, I did hack the process a bit. I definitely do not have an average strategy ;-)

With that said, I did notice that Tinder in the US is just utter garbage, even with my strategy. The best places so far have all been in Europe (only tested the US a bit and some European countries).

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

#70

Post by CharlieDigital »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #28
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.

Rather than chase the VC money, why not just focus on first building a profitable business and product that people want?
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