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You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

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Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#81

Post by heavenlyblue »

csteubs wrote: post #12
ekc wrote: post #6

"Cofounder dating" is a bad idea. Cofounders should be friends before starting the company. - pg https://twitter.com/paulg/status/852493839176785921

It might not be as ideal as an organic friendship buI wouldn't say it's a bad idea outright. Only a handful of my friends would call themselves entrepreneurial, and those who do are pretty deep in their own domain-specific startups. My criteria for a cofounder match is 50/50 expertise and personality match, but that slides based on how complementary our skill sets are. Ex: I'm building a new mapping product right now…

Just FYI: can't access your website.

Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#82

Post by tim333 »

codesushi42 wrote: post #40
eloff wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are always exceptions. It still makes it a bad idea. And I don't think there's anything wrong with using it to meet like minded people who you might collaborate with one day. But let's not ignore the fact that single founders can be successful too, and one of the biggest causes of startup failure is co-founder disputes, according to YC's own data. The real question is, will it help more than it hurts? The good…

Successful single founders are very rare. Agreed that the biggest cause of failure is issues between founders. One could say then that you should only start a company when you have a cofounder, and one that is good. But in reality there's no way of knowing who will be good. The best proxy is choosing someone you have worked with before. A coworker for instance. Simply choosing a founder because you hang out with them…

Some counter evidence:

>Entrepreneurs Are Better Off Going It Alone, Study Says Startups founded by a single person are more likely to survive and succeed than those founded by a team (wsj article on paper by Jason Greenberg)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/entrepreneurs-are-better-off-go...

Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#84

Post by jpking »

burtonator wrote: post #54

Screw that... I'm going to find a co-founder right here! :) https://getpolarized.io/ I need someone really awesome in product + growth OR an amazing React + frontend developer. We've made GREAT progress so far.. Here's the rough elevator pitch. Polar is a tool for managing knowledge which is kind of a hybrid of Kindle, Github, and Slack. Polar allows you to keep all your knowledge and reading material in one place. Y…

Polar sounds interesting. I've got experience in helping the tech-focused sell their visions, so I might be able to help.

Despite that I'm probably not co-founder material. I'm heading back to Uni in September to study comp sci. But I'm interested in finding impactful side projects.

If you're interested in a chat email me: jpk@zealous.digital

Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#85

Post by svantana »

yeldarb wrote: post #48
machinelearning wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t that the goal of every AR startup/project? Care to explain?

Maybe I haven’t been looking in the right places but I’ve downloaded most of the AR apps and games that have come out for iOS thus far and they’re almost all gimmicky. Simply plopping a 3D model into the room isn’t particularly compelling or useful. But that seems to be the bar for “AR apps” today.

Solving sudokus in AR could also be described as "gimmicky"...

Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#86

Post by yeldarb »

svantana wrote: post #85
yeldarb wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I haven’t been looking in the right places but I’ve downloaded most of the AR apps and games that have come out for iOS thus far and they’re almost all gimmicky. Simply plopping a 3D model into the room isn’t particularly compelling or useful. But that seems to be the bar for “AR apps” today.

Solving sudokus in AR could also be described as "gimmicky"...

Certainly. Proof of concept :)

Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#87

Post by EGreg »

TuringNYC wrote: post #30
mrep wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> starting a company with someone is a bigger commitment than getting married How? You can leave a company you founded at any any time without any financial repercussions usually but marriages you cannot unless you get a prenup (which probably costs legal fees) and that's not even including the ring nor wedding.

>>>> starting a company with someone is a bigger commitment than getting married >> How? You can leave a company you founded at any any time without any financial repercussions Absolutely not! Leaving a company has huge financial repercussions! If you have no agreement, you are either killing the company (as everyone disbands) or end up with either no ownership or end up with some uncertain amount of ownership as all…

This is silly. Most startups funded by these VC types are “go big or go home” and “fail fast” types. All this stuff you said about the company failing is an what the VC pushes you to do 9 out of 10 times and move on. The money lost came from various sources including investors who take risks for a living.

How do you say that is worse than kids growing up in a broken home and many lives affected? An entrepeneur can have 5 failures and 8 successful exits. Do you want to say the institution of marriage can be like that?

Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#89

Post by ttcbj »

andrewstuart wrote: post #60

PG both highly recommends having a cofounder and also identifies cofounder conflict as a leading reason for company failure. So what's the "right" thing to do? Have a cofounder to greatly increase your chances or success, or endanger your company by getting a cofounder?

The answer, as with all things in starting a business, is that you have to make wise decisions that yield good results. Seriously.

If you choose a great co-founder with complementary skills and personality, it will drive you forward. If you choose poorly, you would have been better off staying single. The only thing that is really going to matter is your specific results. There is no reason for there to be a general rule that applies to everyone.

Re: You can now use YC's Startup School directory to find a cofounder

#90

Post by mastratton3 »

ekc wrote: post #6

"Cofounder dating" is a bad idea. Cofounders should be friends before starting the company. - pg https://twitter.com/paulg/status/852493839176785921

This is more of an opinion, I'm sure there are plenty of cases where the founders didn't know each other directly but were introduced due to common interests and it worked out just fine (My current company included). Yea, you probably shouldn't jump right into it, but I don't think it is a bad idea. Also - if you're sticking to your current network, I imagine the chances of finding someone who has more complementary skills is lower (ie: I'm an engineer & most of my network is engineers, what I'd really need though is more of a business/sales guy)
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