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Ask HN: How to find co-founders

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Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#1
The question is simple. I found a problem I really want to solve, there's a pretty big market for the solution (data collation and storage of automotive test data).

Except I'm purely a software guy, and I'll openly admit I know nothing about developing a business, networking, or money. So I'll likely need a team.

How do you find one?

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#2
IMHO, the best way to find like minded co-founders is to actively attend meetups, hackathons, conferences and related events. You will be surprised how often you will find passionate people who are very much willing to work and join forces with people like you.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#4
This is like asking how to find a wife. A co-founder should be someone with not only have knowledge in certain domains but someone who have the same passion for your planning startup like you do. Attending to different events could be a good thing but start with the beginning, search your co-founder in your friends. Didn't find anything? Try to meet new people and don't just search them for their " abilities ".

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#7
There's a mental hack I would use in situations like these. Essentially, stop looking for a "cofounder" and start looking for a "collaborator."

Right now you don't have a business, per se. You have a concept. It's an interesting concept, but it doesn't need a cofounder just yet. Turn the concept into a project. Work on any bits and pieces of the project that you can. Go to meetups, bring your idea to a hackathon, and maybe do a Show HN when you've got something tangible. (Something tangible could even be a really interesting blog post about the topic.) All the while, look for collaborators to help out.

The "collaborator" mindset frees you of the mental bottleneck of having to have a cofounder before making progress. It also allows you to work with, and to vet people instead of having a shotgun wedding to the first would-be cofounder you think you get along with.

PG once wrote that a sign of a good team is one that's worked together and knows each other. You can't push a magic button and add five or six years of shared history to any cofounder you meet. But you can get some work experience with collaborators before cofounding a business with one of them. You're looking for someone you can click with over the next five or more years; it's worth a few extra months of scramble in the beginning to find someone great.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#8
Sad to say, but I'll probably go alone when I try to create another business. The first time I tried to start with best friends, they jumped off after a couple months and I hated them for it.

Re: Ask HN: How to find co-founders

#10

There's a mental hack I would use in situations like these. Essentially, stop looking for a "cofounder" and start looking for a "collaborator." Right now you don't have a business, per se. You have a concept. It's an interesting concept, but it doesn't need a cofounder just yet. Turn the concept into a project. Work on any bits and pieces of the project that you can. Go to meetups, bring your idea to a hackathon, and…

Understood, this route seems the easiest as it lets me get my feet wet slowly.
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