Ask HN: How do you go about meeting cofounders? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you go about meeting cofounders?

7 pointsBadassFractal6 comments

Let's say I'm in a situation where I'm looking for a co-founder in the SF area. I'm highly technical myself (MS from top 3 school, years of experience at a software giant, passion for open source and bleeding edge technologies, treat software engineering as a craft), extremely ambitious and want to work on something awesome with other people who have experience and desire to make a great, hopefully innovative, product. I don't care too much about WHAT that specifically is at this point, a great team of people will make anything fun.

I unfortunately don't know many folks who have both the experience and the desire to co-found a successful start-up with me, but would love to find out where I could find them. I've been to a couple of HN meetings, very promising, but no luck so far. What other prospects do people in my situation have? It seems like most success stories are entrepreneurs meeting in college and then already pre-selecting each other, but that's not my case.

Please advise :)

We are all facing this problem. I agree with Steve that it is like finding a spouse. I saw a list of co-founder sites on Quora and posted to them but I'm not pleased with the responses. I'd love to talk you! I have an MVP, users, integration partners and the beginnings of convos with investors. Totally looking for a co-founder. Let me know if you'd like to chat.

Chiming in on the "it's a lot like dating" band wagon. If you put too much pressure on yourself to find the right girl, you'll miss the steps you really need to take to find the right girl - living your life confidently, being social and befriending as many people as you can along the way. Having a large social network is by far the best way to find both a girl and a co-founder. Some of those people will know other people, who may introduce you to the guy who just "clicks" with you.

That said, you sound pretty cool, and you seem pretty cool for writing this. I'm thinking about moving out there myself, ideally to found something. I'll be in town next week for two weeks. Ping me and we'll try to grab coffee. :)

Oh, and where are these "HN Meetings?" Will there any chance be any between Oct 25th and Nov 8th? :P

Its definitely tough. Finding a cofounder is like finding a spouse. If you aren't already good friends with someone you'd like to work with that you've known for awhile, it's difficult to find one you while seeking them out to just start jamming together. Those that do and things work out great for them are rare.

I would focus on just hanging out more and more and seeing if there are people you click with. If you're interested, and new to the area, come hang out with my buddies and I. If nothing else, maybe you'll make new friends who can connect you to others.

Are you going to http://startupschool.org ?

Have your tried attending hackathons or startup camps?

I second this. Found my cofounder at http://theleanstartupmachine.com/, and it's worked out great. Going straight from one of these events to starting a company can be tough, since you don't really go through an extensive 'courting' period to get to know the person, but since you're both there to learn about startups, interests are already aligned.

It's sort of like going to speed-dating events.

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