copy of my comments:

Honestly, the problem is not finding a designer, but a good designer. And that leads to the larger problem: expectations are too high by those looking. They are expecting apple quality polish on a small budget. Good design isn't cheap. Good designers are hard to find because they are working on quality products, not your dinky startup app with a budget of 50,000 a year for a designer.

I will also add that as a designer and front end developer, its not that I am not interested in startups, it's that I either needs to be a larger part of the ownership, or payed what I am worth.