Ask HN: Is anyone interested in a site to help you find co-founders?

> It’s been told the best way is to reach out to classmates and co-workers. However, that seems severely limiting as I’m sure there’s opportunities outside of my personal network (especially since I graduated a while back).

One of the very important features in co-founders is knowledge of work-ethic and trust in each other. That's why it's often recommended that you co-found with people already in your circles. There are just so many additional unknowns when you're dealing with potential co-founders that you have no history with.

yeah , I completely agree. However, I feel there has to be a way to do this outside of the standard school/day-job. Reason I'm saying this is because I've worked in numerous open source projects and have met many friends that I would love to work with. The world is just too big to limit myself to a small circle of people. Also, take for example folks who live outside of major tech areas (an basically all rural locations). Where can they go to find good people to even begin building these relationships?

I don't have the exact answers on how to build this "trust" system into a platform (still researching). However I think it's definitely possible.

But you can count those people among your 'personal network'; that sounds like an ideal choice for undertaking what is essentially a 'large project' with someone - by having already done a smaller one with them.

I'm not exactly sure what it is about existing cofounder search sites, but I do feel that they leave much to be desired. Certainly they never worked for me.

Online dating sites attempt to solve a problem of approximately equal difficulty in my mind - creating a long-term relationship with somebody who initially is a total stranger. They leave much to be desired too, but have at least reached a functional level for many people, such as myself (met my wife through one of them several years ago).

I suspect it has something to do with the much smaller number of people on cofounder sites vs. dating sites, which makes reaching critical mass and iterating to improve the user experience that much harder.

I would never use a site to find a co-founder. It seems like a waste of time. How would you vet someone? There is so much noise in the space and these kind of sites attract a ton of people who are not prepared/knowledgeable to found a successful business. I will only ever co-found with people who are part of my network and I know well enough already. Usually people who I have had some experience working with already. From time to time I have tried to be more loose in my approach but it has never led anywhere.

While I agree from a conceptual standpoint, the same argument could be made about online dating - and there are people successfully using it anyways. For some people getting to know a cofounder online might be the only way to find one (e.g. in more conservative parts of the world, where startups are a very rare phenomena).

Yes sure I can see your point. If a site was developed that solved the issues I pointed out then of course I would also reconsider. As a qualifier I would also like to point out that I was a non-technical co-founder in all my previous ventures and the frustrations led me to focusing on developing my technical side to the point where I can do it all myself now. I am between ventures currently but am much more inclined to go solo in the next one at least until I have basic idea validation and traction so I am probably not the norm in this regard.

We're not in disagreement.. this is actually why I created the post, out of personal frustrations.

> If a site was developed that solved the issues I pointed out then of course I would also reconsider

This is exactly what I'm going to try and solve. After all the feedback received, this will definitely be my next project I'm taking on. If you have any specifics you could add, please please take the survey and sign up for the beta list. Or send me an email (in my profile) and perhaps we can send a couple quick back and forths on the major issues that you think need addressed. Would be nice to connect with fellow entrepreneurs, even if it's just to validate ideas :)

I am very interested in peoples processes. How do you start on an idea, how do you validate, what tools do you work with, what would you do to get your first customers, what would you change to get the ones after that etc It is really helpful to get an insight into how people think and work. If I find a moment later I will try and elaborate a bit more.

cool , feel free to email me direct, or better yet - fill out the survey so I can keep track :)

The problem with co-founder sites and meetups is successful startups are usually formed by people who knew each other beforehand. This makes it difficult for solo founders who don't have skilled people in their network interested in such things.

An alternative idea would be to create a 1-3 month program for entrepreneurs and programmers to learn new skills, etc., but also to network and meet potential cofounders.

I met my co-founder and, after a 4hr conversation, decided I wanted him as a partner. We started working together within 3 weeks and its been smooth sailing for 1.5 years. We have already reached 7 figure revenue. Sometimes you meet people and you realize you are just on the same page with how you view things.

I think more often, the outcome is that while you're on the same page the rest of the book turns out to be very different. Glad it worked out for you though!

Definitely you are lucky. I personally feel an co-founder should be like a natural selection. Their is no right or the wrong way, if their is an mutual flow, things going to work great.

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes I agree that knowing each other beforehand is strongly desired. However, when you really reduce it down to the actual reason, I think it comes to trust. Knowing someone and working alongside them builds a trust relationship that carries you through. It's becoming apparent through the responses of the survey that the platform will have to address building this trust level , whether that's through a short term program with networking, or something else - i'm going to work to figure it out!

The basic business question I have:

  How is using a website more efficient for vetting
  potential co-founders, than alternative methods?

The issue in finding cofounder's for people who are struggling to do so is separating signal from noise. One trend on the internet is that lowering the barrier to broadcasting, increases noise. For a highly selective process like finding a cofounder, the noise from people throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks may make finding candidates worth the effort of vetting harder rather than easier.

The marriage model for cofounders is probably useful. The dating analogy is perhaps less so because cofounding is not necessarily a two person relationship and the principle purposes and processes of business are a lot less clear cut.

Good luck.

I've found it very hard to find a non technical co-founder who actually brings something to the table other than an idea like "let's do Uber for Pet sitters!".

This is a pretty common problem, but it comes with the territory. As we used to say when I was mostly in the mobile space: "everyone has the next great app idea."

Hey, I take offense to this comment ;) Just kidding of course being rejected is a great motivator for some. Having devs reject ideas inspired me to learn to program, and realize that there are a ton of bad ideas, and only a few deserve the time it takes to build.

Just to be clear, I wasn't talking about co-founders with unrealistic/ridiculous ideas. I was mostly concerned about co-founders who only bring the idea to the table.

As a technical person, I'm mostly interested in finding a co-founder who would have solid domain knowledge, or have experience pitching to VCs, or any other skill that can actually contribute to the execution of the idea.

Ideas are cheap, everyone has ideas, a good co-founder will help with the execution and there is plenty to do apart from the technical aspect.

I agree with this. And from a co-founder side show me someone that has actually talked to a few potential customers and people are willing to pay for the service. (B2B or Enterprise type market) Now let's talk about an MVP.

And for whoever is looking for someone like that: don't fall for promises like: I have a great network, or I'm a great salesman. There are a lot of predators and leeches out there.

I saw a YC partner once say "we don't mind solo founders, it's just that you have to be 4 times as good." I've decided to focus on becoming 4 times as good.

If I build a product that can't be ignored then I'll have options for funding even as a single founder. Then I could get employees instead of partners and avoid the whole scary idea of someone corrupting my vision. It would be a huge time sink to find the perfect cofounder, and for someone like me it would cause tons of stress. You're supposed to basically marry someone. I'd rather just keep grinding outside of my 9-5 job and build the product myself.

The difference between online dating sites and co-founder matching sites is that with dating, there is a well defined process to gauge mutual attraction over time with minimal investment.

You go on a date for an hour, get to know the other person and if there's a connection, do it again. Eventually, after a few dates, you might decide to become exclusive, after a few more, it might be a real relationship. And after a few years, it might lead to marriage.

Co-founder matching sites always seemed to me like you're skipping the whole 'dating' process and jumping straight to marriage.

I'd be interested in a site that had some way for me to get to know the other potential founder's work ethic, intelligence, integrity, and sociability without jumping straight into a legal business relationship right away. I don't mind if the process takes months to find the right one.

Co-founder matching sites should set a goal of finding the perfect co-founder 3-6 months from now. Now, their job should be to help qualified candidates go through the 'dating' process in the interim. THAT would be real value and I'd sign up and pay if I came across something like this.

There seems to be a lot activity on http://founderdating.com/

I get plenty of email notifications from there after a friend asked for a referral.

Am I the only one noticing the spelling error on the frontpage in 'Connect with world-class entreprenuers and advisors'?

One thing I hate about that site, is that it forces you to get linkedin contacts to "reccomend you". I get why they added it, but I really don't want to hit up my contacts to see if a site might work.

We are a small team that maintains a site, called SideProjectors.

http://www.sideprojectors.com

It's a market place where people can sell & buy side projects.

Awhile back, I've added an option for people to "search for co-founder/collaborator".

While we've seen hundreds of side projects being sold and bought, I think we haven't seen that many projects where people successfully find co-founders via our site.

Now we haven't aggressively pushed this feature, so I'm sure there are many things we can do to support, but from what we have seen, finding a co-founder is, SO much more than just going through a list of profiles.

I almost think if you want to do this, then you only invite really serious people and have them speak face to face via hangout or skype - or a feature that supports such thing.

I guess, since finding co-founder is such a difficult task, I think it needs to have a more "human" approach to it. Hope that helps!

I've actually thought this exact thing before. A site with a curated list of potential entrepreneur partners. It would be tremendously difficult to do well though. But thanks for the comment, this gives me something to reflect on.

I think a model like assembly is a decent model...open up contributions to your project and offer shares to anyone who contributes in a meaningful way...i dont see why this cant be used to find a cofounder by actually working with them over time on the project.

The current cofounder 'finding' sites are really bad. The problem is - there are mostly 2 types of people who join. 1)Those who genuinely have an idea are working hard to get it off the ground but not interested in partnering with someone else. 2)Those looking for better opportunities i.e employment. 3)People don't bother replying to emails which is rude considering there are other very serious people there who are looking for answers and maybe advice.

Honestly, I don't know what is going to work. I'm not sure the dating model is the best cause it doesn't seem to be working well.

You need to think of something completely new and different (easier said than done of course!)

I kind of like assembly.com because you can find a group of people to contribute. I just wish there was a way to try and recruit to the project. Like interest, skills section. I have a domain name: bountysplit.com that could be used for recruiting. even just in the jobs market. it's on assembly.com with couple of my ideas. I'm a developer so I don't have the get something built problem. I have the getting traction problem.

Yeah I hear you. I also like Assembly but feel they're missing some key features (although I haven't formalized them in my mind yet). You've sort of hit one of my major peeves with alot of these sites - they don't seem to have any good way to find/recruit projects based on domain interest. If you haven't already, it would help me a great deal if you filled out the survey. I'm trying to get as much info as possible before I start making something :)

I'm willing to help. I have a long and "interesting" experience with trying to build such sites :-) I'll drop you an email, an off-line discussion is probably more appropriate.

Cool! I'm definitely open to hearing about these "interesting" eperiences :) Been getting alot of responses and feedback lately, so yeah feel free to drop me a line if you haven't already (contact is in my profile)

Have you checked out https://www.cofounderslab.com/ ?

When I was looking around, this seemed like the best option.

Yeah I'm aware of this site. It's actually the reason I posted this thread (frustrations with my experience). They do a great job at collecting users, but are still very limited since it doesn't have any filters on subjects or decent ways to validate people. It's basically /r/cofounders with user profile pages (imho - this isn't to knock the company though)

Nearly everybody there is a "business-something" searching for a "programmer", which in my narrow-minded view translates as:

"I have an idea which I think it's original and I want someone to work 40 hours per week to implement it. Then we can split the profit."

Sorry but ideas are cheap, implementation costs.

I am very interested in finding a co-founder for an existing project (already has paying clients). I tried using the various websites like cofounderslab etc but it is tough. The reason is that finding a co-founder is like finding a date that could turn into a serious relationship (think girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife). So this takes time and effort and cannot be solved by a listing website.

Here are some of the problems/challenges I have faced:

- Not everyone wants to become a co-founder. A lot of people just want to build things for you and get out. Think freelancers etc. Really smart people but not interested in becoming co-founders.

- A friend wants to be your co-founder. Ok great. You like them and they are really good friends. But you know for sure that they don't have anything of value to offer to you. So you tell them "I would love to but what do you bring to the table" ? They cannot answer that and you are back to square one.

- A really smart friend whom you know could build great things together loves his/her job. He is the Employee type. No matter how much you try to convince them of the great entrepreneurial life, they won't budge.

In my opinion, to find a co-founder who is not a friend or someone you know already, below are the steps:

1. Initial contact with someone who has interest in becoming a co-founder. This can be solved with those listing type websites perhaps.

2. AFTER that initial contact, what do we do This is where the listing websites fail and cannot add any more value. This step/problem needs to be solved. My suggestion is that we will need to work together on "small" or "baby" projects first that may or may not be related to any actual business/product. Heck, lets build a blog together. Lets see how we interact with each other personally and professionally. I will like to spend a lot of time with you knowing your both personally and of course professionally. You may be the best programmer or marketer but can you handle pressure ? Can you actually commit to anything ? Are you a quitter ? Are you an honest person ? Can I trust you ? What is your vision ? What is your end Goal ? What do you want out of life ? All these questions need to be answered in my opinion and really vetted.

3. Once step 2 is reasonable secure, then lets actually become co-founders. Sign legal agreements, do vesting discussions, get lawyers involved etc ?

Just my 2 cents. I filled out your survey btw as well.

have a look at https://www.startus.cc/