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Finding Your Co-Founders

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Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#11

Post by mediaman »

vaksel wrote: post #7
chaosprophet wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not true. At times you just bump into a guy who happens to be exactly what you're looking for. This has happened to me more than once, so I would not make "looking for co-founder" a point of failure. That said, I still think getting to know a person you will be closely involved with well enough before starting out.

how many programmers go out looking for a "business guy with an idea", programmers get pitched the whole "yeah man, I have this idea, it's ultra secret, so I'll need you to sign an NDA first, but basically it's like faceb...." the only way for a "business guy with an idea" to hookup with a programmer, without being lifelong friends, is to bring a crapload of money to the table.

Only true for a narrow spectrum of startups.

There are many highly lucrative niche opportunities (that can still scale to $10mm+ revs) that would be impossible to identify or execute on without an inside industry expert who knows the big players, potential customers, and precise pain points.

When referring to "business people with an idea" with some degree of derision, it's productive for us to remember this mostly applies to the MBA grads with generic consulting/banking background and little industry-specific expertise.

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#13

Post by catch23 »

skmurphy wrote: post #3

Two other events in Silicon Valley that are good for serious conversation among entrepreneurs are Bootstrapper Breakfast http://www.bootstrapperbreakfast.com/ and Hackers and Founders http://www.hackersandfounders.com/

If you just want to meet entrepreneurs, I suggest hanging out at the Hacker Dojo (http://www.hackerdojo.com) There's a physical job corkboard in the lobby if you're interested in finding cofounders, however getting the information will require you to be physically present.

There are people there from 10am to 5am daily (yes, we are open that late). There are around 8 YC companies that frequent the hangout. I've also met 4 other mini teams there who are applying for the next YC round.

I suggest anyone in Silicon Valley looking for cofounders to come to the Founder Institute mixer meetup event held at the Hacker Dojo this Tuesday. Details here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158007268648

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#14

Post by holdenc »

I've never understood the purpose of co-founders. If you are a hacker, create your product. Then figure out were you need help and find it.

It's hard to overstate the amount that one additional person can dilute the efficiency of a one-person business.

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#15

Post by vaksel »

mediaman wrote: post #11
vaksel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how many programmers go out looking for a "business guy with an idea", programmers get pitched the whole "yeah man, I have this idea, it's ultra secret, so I'll need you to sign an NDA first, but basically it's like faceb...." the only way for a "business guy with an idea" to hookup with a programmer, without being lifelong friends, is to bring a crapload of money to the table.

Only true for a narrow spectrum of startups. There are many highly lucrative niche opportunities (that can still scale to $10mm+ revs) that would be impossible to identify or execute on without an inside industry expert who knows the big players, potential customers, and precise pain points. When referring to "business people with an idea" with some degree of derision, it's productive for us to remember this mostly a…

really? many lucrative niche opportunities? Then surely we'd have heard at least some examples of that on techcrunch. Hell if their other coverage is any indication, they would have made it seem like the norm by now. But hey if your version is correct, then you can find plenty of success stories where a niche business guy, got a programmer partner without having to pay thousands of dollars in the process.

I just don't buy that. Looking for a programmer partner as a biz guy with just an idea, is the equivalent of looking for VC funding with an idea...it might happen, but chances are it's a huge waste of time.

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#16

Post by netsp »

holdenc wrote: post #14

I've never understood the purpose of co-founders. If you are a hacker, create your product. Then figure out were you need help and find it. It's hard to overstate the amount that one additional person can dilute the efficiency of a one-person business.

Partnerships have a good track record. I think they add some consistency to the performance.

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#17

Post by hedgehog »

DenisM wrote: post #12

What are the good networking events in Seattle? I know plenty of engineers but would like to meet some business and designer folks.

OpenCoffee Seattle is good. I've only been once (two weeks ago) but it was valuable, good group of people and I met one of the best possible investor/advisors for the startup I'm working on.

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/190147/

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#18

Post by jmtame »

I built hndir.com to help solve the challenge of finding technical cofounders at universities. everyone in there is verified and has probably signed up from this site.

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#19

Post by robdor »

holdenc wrote: post #14

I've never understood the purpose of co-founders. If you are a hacker, create your product. Then figure out were you need help and find it. It's hard to overstate the amount that one additional person can dilute the efficiency of a one-person business.

I find "reality checks" to be a great benefit of having a co-founder. The best of us spend time pursuing ideas and tangents for our startups that really don't matter. A co-founder can help identify and keep those incidents to a minimum. Of course this works both ways.

Re: Finding Your Co-Founders

#20

Post by akkartik »

To everyone pointing out sites for networking with potential co-founders: I find them disappointing. They're great places to chat with interesting folks, but if you're like me you've been to them for months without actually getting to first base with anyone.

First base isn't exchanging bodily fluids. It's hacking together on a project. Why's it so hard to find people to actually hack with for an evening? We all know the hacking is important, and yet I don't see anybody out there networking with hacking in mind. I'm starting to suspect 'networking' is the wrong word for what we're trying to do. Perhaps we need to focus deeply on a few leads rather than a bunch of shallow ones.

Have you found a co-founder by networking? Tell me how wrong I am.

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