Ask HN: Co-founder dating – yes or now? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Co-founder dating – yes or now?

5 pointstalhof85 comments

Hey all,

I've just quit my job to pursue my dream of starting my own startup, and I'm having trouble finding co-founders. I'm somewhat ambivalent about looking outside my network and trying out tools like YC's own Co-Founder Matching. I've found different, contradicting opinions (which is more than fine) about it from YC partners - past and present ones - as well.

What are your experiences with it? Is the alternative - going solo (for the time being) - worse? Should I just keep validating my idea and hope to find someone?

View on HN

I found my worst co-founder from among my best friends. And I found the best one from a facebook group.

For the most part, I've found only bad cofounders, mostly from searching my own network. The idea of searching among your friends probably works if you've gone to Stanford and then work at Microsoft and have a top tier network.

Otherwise you'll probably have to deal with strangers. It's like hiring, there's a process. Build stuff together, sell it together. You'll see what their work ethic is. Metallica was founded via a newspaper ad looking for bandmates, so blind dating works. It's just that blind dating always has the worst odds.

Personal opinion: I would just get to work. In my opinion this “you need a cofounder” is complete horse%^*+ perpetuated by folk who are investing money with you and need a failover plan in case you find the journey is too hard for you.

Sure if you have a cofounder you can do it that way too but not having one should not be stopping you from doing this.

Also looking for a cofounder on a forum may not be how you want to have a cofounder. A more effective way to get a cofounder is to have somebody in your network that you have known and is equally excited about the idea you wish to bring to life. pressure testing the person with questions is highly ineffective. Best way to do thst is to see them in action and usually you have at least some intuition about a person when you have known them for a little bit.

There is more than one way to get to this destination. Good luck!

The best way to attract co-founders is to have an awesome prototype ready to go, if only there was someone who could compliment your weak points ... build it and they will come.

Hey. Thrilling times, huh? What problem are you working on? What are you up to?

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=(find%20OR%20looking)+cofounder

PS: Adding your contact information to your HN profile, and describing what you're working on will be useful.

Thanks!

Currently working on making offline advertising cost-effective and accessible for SMBs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com