Ask HN:Who's Looking For a Cofounder? (October 2010 Edition)

The biggest problem with finding a co-founder is that there is often some sort of reputation or comradere already existing between the individuals and often never begins on the premise of building a business together.

A common interest like programming, design, technology, some specific market will bring the two together, find a common problem and resolve to work toward solving that problem knowing _already_ what sort of working relationship there will be beforehand.

Co-founders will need a fantastic amount of trust and loyalty to work well together in the long term. This formula is difficult to satisfy with this method. Not trying to crap, but I'm currently fighting down this road myself and have resolved to let the process work organically rather than trying to find serendipitous luck (semi) anonymously on HN.

+1. However it's not easy for all of us to make "co-founder potential" relationships organically. In fact, most of my friends are not tech savvy or entrepreneur minded.

I have the exact same problem. While my friends all have fantastic minds, none are particularly interested in the "risk" of starting a business when they are just getting on their feet. I try to involve myself in local societies and organizations which have the sort of individuals I want to work with.

Alternatively, there are other online forums which add a nice structure to the process of finding a co-founder. Tristan Kromer has put together http://startupsquare.com which he has made promising progress in. I've also put in an application with the (fairly new) http://cofoundersnetwork.com. There's an entire section of questions based around this here: http://www.quora.com/Finding-Co-Founders/

And while the option isn't available for everyone, sometimes going to the mountain instead of waiting for the mountain to come to you feels more productive. I intend to move to Boulder, CO where these crowds are much more abundant than where I am and do some schmoozing there to grow my network. And if schmoozing is hard, I hear Toastmasters is a fantastic experience everyone should try.

Hope this helps.

it happened to me the other way around once and though the startup didn't make it, we're still good friends (He was a F&F investor)

Some of us might have just moved out here to SV, and are still building our networks.

I would like to meet anyone that is interested in one day starting a business or has already started on and is looking for a tech partner in crime.

Chicago, IL (willing to work with someone virtually as well)

GeekStack is an online trading card game where players become the heroes of science and technology. It's also a platform that can host any trading card game.

I've been working on it nights and weekends for a year and change. I have a working game engine and I'm coding the web server and front end now. Bootstrapped, incorporated, etc. Looking to launch this fall.

My ideal cofounder would be someone with illustration, graphic design, and creative direction skills. A web programmer (I'm using Ruby on Rails/Heroku/EventMachine/PubNub) with some sysadmin skills would also be great. Love gaming and education, of course.

If interested, email peter@geekstack.com

http://geekstack.com

Looking for a biz dev/marketing/sales co-founder in Boston or San Francisco.

Short term, I've got a profitable iPhone app that has over half a million downloads and will be working on converting free users to paid subscriptions.

Long term, I am looking to disrupt the Dell/HP model of selling physical computers by selling virtual computers.

Disrupt the web by freeing developers to use any technology to develop applications that can be accessed instantly.

Disrupt the social by making users control their own content and run services on their virtual computers to manage their social graph.

You live in Boston or SF? Interested in talking to you more but couldnt find your email on AlwaysOn. Shoot me an email: leo at groupie dot mobi

I'm in Boston - hit me at droskill at g mail dot com

I am looking for a technical co-founder. Someone who shares the entrepreneurial passion, is ready to work hard and do whatever it takes to build a successful startup, is open to ideas, has a sense of humor and an appetite for the early stage, pre-funded startup roller-coaster ride.

The idea is of a consumer app that leverages our social network and social graph. It's been validated by potential users and few senior executives. A basic initial version of the app is almost ready and will be launched privately in a month.

I have a business background. Have worked with startups. Besides, I started 2 small ventures during my teens. Doing whatever it takes to make things happen, is something I consider as my strength. I believe in a fair and open work culture - and communication is very imp. I am extremely passionate about consumer apps that are fun + useful. I am currently based in Bay Area - US, and plan to relocate to India in November (due to visa constraints). The startup is incorporated in US, and I do intend on coming back to bay area, once we raise some funding.

So, if solving challenging problems excites you, and you are entrepreneurial and have always wanted to build/start something of your own, but got busy with 9-to-5 and life in general.. and you've been looking for the right idea / opportunity / time... and you are super-duper hungry ( http://gapingvoid.com/2009/05/11/welcome-to-the-hunger/ ) ....then, drop me a note! Share a bit about your background, and why you are interested. Email: mnnmsemail at gmail dot com

i am not able to see you contact info... Mine is singh.mahesh [at] gmail.com

My email: mnnmsemail at gmail dot com

I saw your linkedin profile, looks like you started your own venture early this year. Why are you looking at another one right now?

I'm looking for European cofounders or partners that would like to be part of a startup involved in one or more of the following:

Making a commercial version RepRap machine and selling it. There are numerous ideas and designs floating around for bootstrapped 3D printers, begging for a company to put them together in a nice retail package.

Running a coworking office for startups and freelancers.

Running a hackerspace with lots of cool tools such as 3D printers, open to both paid members and the public.

Running a small fab-lab for on-demand rapid prototyping and fabrication services.

---

I'm still at the research phase, so I don't have much existing work to show you. I've started wikifying some of my research notes which you can find here: http://punkmanufacturing.com/ . I've also found two plastics companies that might be interested in supplying base printing materials for us to resell. There is also the possibility of developing new printing materials or tweaking existing ones.

I'm looking for someone who is passionate about any of the above subjects. Qualifications, background, etc don't matter as long as you have some skills applicable to this hypothetical startup. You must be able to work in the EU, so European citizens preferred. Personally, I'm willing, and able, to relocated almost anywhere in the EU to work on this.

Contact me at http://disattention.com/contact/ or point me to your contact info.

What should I wear? I find myself asking that question all the time. First date? What should I wear? Job interview? What should I wear? Friday night out? What should I wear? Wouldn't it be cool if 500-1000 of your peers could make sure you look as good as possible before you leave your house?

So I created http://www.TonightsOutfit.com - a website that attempts to answer that question using peer review.

I've got a business plan/financial statement, I'm incorporated, the design is complete, the front end code is complete. I have money for marketing/hosting and any other expense that may occur. I've got beta testers too.

I have everything needed for a v1 launch except the backend.

I am interested in someone who can build the backend, bonus points if you are able to do design/front end.

I could talk forever and ever about the project, if you are interested in knowing more I'm available @ Nick [at] tonightsoutfit.com

I'm located in Seattle.

References available on request.

http://www.tonightsoutfit.com

I'm working on building an open-source social learning platform on Drupal. I'm moving to the bay area in the next ~6 months but am in Utah for now. If you're passionate about making quality educational technology available the world over, please send me an email. mathews.kyle@gmail.com

In what way are you planning on distinguishing yourself from the rest of the learning platforms? What type of learning will your platform be geared towards?

A few reasons: * It's open source so cheaper + no vendor-lockin + it can be built for a wide variety of purposes vs. a monolithic single purpose app. * It's extensible. You'll be able to download a wide variety of Eduglu-compatible apps built either by me or other people/companies.

It's geared toward social learning. Where we learn by observing and talking to fellow-learners.

i have an elearning app i am working on

I'm working on building a next-generation statistical computing environment. The ideal cofounder would be a PhD candidate focusing on machine learning, statistics, or quantitative methods, and be well-versed in Bayesian statistics.

Based in Cambridge, MA. Web: www.statsia.com Email: info@statsia.com

I'm working on something inspired by RFS2:

http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html

My email's in my profile for anyone interested working on this with me. I'd like to think I have a decent grasp of the business side whilst I know I need technical help.

I am. I'm in SF (working out of my apartment in the Haight).

I'm building Quirk ( http://www.getaquirk.com/ ) and I've got a related side project, a QR/URL-shortener - http://qrk.co/

Quirk is Rails on Heroku. qrk.co is Sinatra on Heroku.

Cofounders could come in a few forms. I'm a developer, but somewhat new to web dev. So someone with a deep technical background for web development with prior startup experience would work. Alternatively, someone with a really strong UX/design vision and some skills to drive the frontend would be great, too. I've been learning the necessary skills as I go.

There's contact info in my profile.

Wouldn't it have been great (in terms of equity, leverage etc.) if you were at Google (search) in 2001-03 or Foursquare (location) in 2008?

What we are trying to solve:

- Given relevant experience, find and apply for a job in a field that's soon (within a few months to a year) going to be "hot."

- Given somewhat relevant experience, find and apply for a job in a field that will act as an intermediary to a future "hot" field.

.

LinkedIn, Indeed/SimplyHired etc. haven't concentrated on this problem space yet.

We (one tech, one design co-founder + advisor) are working on solving many such hard problems that involve everything from trending, forecasting to decision analysis. Email me if you're interested in being a tech co-founder: aha.kalopsia@gmail.com

I'm building a unique content site based around live video. I've done a good deal of the backend, but I need an awesome UI/UX partner to breathe some personality into the site.

You should know Jquery, CSS, and have a great design sense.

devjones100 [at] gmail.com

Working on a SaaS product for data analytics. Looking for a business/sales/marketing co-founder who knows a bit of tech. If they know a bit of frontend/design that would be awesome. The backend is already written but is still evolving.

The tech stack is Pylons/Python, SQLAlchemy, Redis, and a very small piece of node.js.

Feel free to check my HN profile for my e-mail (or just chat me up on gchat if you are interested). I am in San Francisco.

In Waterloo, Canada: http://mycampus.cyphontech.com/

We're building mobile technology for universities and colleges in North America. The company is completely bootstrapped and consists of a group of close friends. We are motivated, have a working demo we're pitching already, and looking for a talented Java/PHP/browser programmer to join us!

Contact: karan.bhangui@cyphontech.com

I am. I've begun development and have working prototypes for #1 & #2 of the 3 ideas. I'm looking for rockstar marketing/sales talent and rockstar graphic design talent.

The three startups:

1) Automated UI testing (can't say more) 2) HTML5 canvas to create a handful of small web products. (can't say more) 3) Beer oriented (can't say more).

#1 & #2 can be bootstrapped. #3 I want to develop a little further then pitch to a YC or a Techstars.

jeff.a.bail {at} gmail.com

I'm working on a very scalable idea for consumer financial services - a bit similar to Mint but in a different category. I'm a marketing/biz dev type with a technical background, but I'm looking for a pure tech partner who can help with the build. Already shown the idea to a few angels - have strong interest, now need to build a team.

I'm in Boston - hit me at droskill at g mail dot com if you have any interest.

New York, NY

My partner and I founded Scriblink.com (the number one online whiteboard) and Groupie (a social network currently on the iPhone).

We are looking for a long-term technical partner who shares our ambition, discipline, ability to execute and work ethic (you dont have to be as intense as us). In essence, we're two projects into what will be a life time of serial entrepreneurship.

Hit me up if you want to talk more or meet for coffee.

leo at groupie dot mobi

I would like to work on social application, either game, educational, or productivity related.

Right now I am working on some exciting stuff for UCSF and Harvard.

I have a few ideas around augmented reality, vr, music, games, social calendars, openid and a language learning app i am working on.

I would like to pick a cofounder before settling on something, until then. I am just hacking around and writing code that is fun.

you can find me on twitter @jdavid

I'm working on a SaaS product to improve brokers' experiences on craigslist - providing rich analytics and lead qualification. We are currently in closed beta and are looking to expand our current offering. Based in both San Francisco and New York, we are looking for a third co-founder, preferably technical (python hacker) and familiar with the real estate space. See profile for email.

If you're looking for something a little different, I'm working on low-power high performance computing for military and intelligence applications.

Place: Washington, DC (but virtual may be possible at first)

More details available to anyone who wants them.

bryan.t.burke [at] gmail.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanburke1

I'm looking for someone focused on marketing with an interest in family and social networks. The startup is a family sharing/storage app called Genevine http://genevine.com -- almost 100% built and on 2.0 but need a marketing-focused co-founder. mark@markbao.com

Building a web application for table-top-style gaming, badly in need of another developer and/or a designer (esp. the latter). Nothing to offer but sweat equity and a fun problem space, but getting close to MVP. - luke |at| lukifer.net

Stack: jquery/codeigniter/mongodb/nodejs

Location: Denver CO & Ventura CA (remote ok)

Denver, CO

I'm looking for someone to join me in the creation of small, indy games for any platform of interest. I am a programmer with a lot of experience writing games in C++, Java, Objective-C and C#. I am on the verge of releasing an iPad game (beta tests start next week).

I'm looking to join as a co-founder in a biz develop / marketing / sales role. Currently submitted to YCombo for 2011 but willing to drop for an already established YCombo funded startup.

Contact info in my profile.

I am looking for someone to work on an online electronic design automation platform. A background in electrical engineering would be helpful.

Coding up www.getsetapp.com and possibly entertaining the idea of bringing on a more technically skilled co-founder. Contact info in profile.

I'm working on a utility that will convert legacy business systems to SaaS apps. Big + for Pittsburgh. See my profile for contact info.

Something like SnapLogic?

I never knew you were around here. Small world.