Where is the best place to find a co-founder?

[lo1337]

@anthony8 Thank you

 

[heidye]

@lo1337 Search in your network. If you don’t have suitable people in it, extend it by going to hackathons, conferences etc.

Learn to build a solution yourself is also a big plus. Either by learning high level frameworks or low code / no code.

With this, you validate your idea (makes it more attractive for someone to join) and you show your commitment. Also you present yourself as someone who can at least talk the tech language and understand the challenges. So even if a cto is rewriting everything its well invested time.

 

[genises]

@heidye I learned bubble.io for this reason. Great tool to build high-fidelity prototypes without a programming language

 

[kkk]

@lo1337 I tried YC cofounder matching. Not super enthusiastic about it though. Nr of people that sign on and are regularly engaged is limited. When you do meet someone there always seems to be some kind of story going on. Someone who got booted from his own startup for example. Or just a wannabe in genera

In the end talented people are just super rare I guess

 

[goldenrule636]

@kkk They're rare and they're usually not shopping around. Opportunities come to them.

 

[dog]

@goldenrule636 I don't know about that, when I was at my a good point in a venture I started some years ago I was skeptical of anyone that approaches me first

 

[goldenrule636]

@dog That's what I said. They're not shopping around. They don't approach.

 

[dog]

@goldenrule636 Yeah you're right, that's on me

In regards to the subject, I'm now thinking that "the need" for a co-founder is actually more of a symptom of a bad business plan than it's an actual need of a co-founder?

I don't know, I'm interested to hear your thoughts

 

[goldenrule636]

@dog There are many kinds of businesses that have different needs and different circumstances.

YC, which has funded multiple unicorn startups strongly recommends a cofounder. Cofounders provide accountability and support and commitment your skill gaps.

I wouldn't say it's an absolute must. But it's tough going alone.

 

[dog]

@goldenrule636

I wouldn't say it's an absolute must. But it's tough going alone.

I would say yeah it's tough going alone, but at least there is a progress, not big but at least, the wheel is rolling

But with a mismatched co-founder, I was moving backward in the negative, that left a really strong trauma.

I don't know, maybe I'm the problem, how was your experience with co-founders?

 

[dog]

@kkk That's what I thought, and is why I've landed on your comment

So what have you done since, did you give up on trying to find a cofounder?

 

[goldenrule636]

@lo1337 Honestly, the best pool is people you've worked with in the past. If you don't have anyone in that pool worth pursuing who is interested, then expand that pool by, for example, partnering with people on consulting projects.

 

[peggys]

@lo1337 Technical cofounder here happy to share my process from the other side.

• tapped into my network and told everyone I’m looking to cofound a company as CTO: This went well, two of my former colleagues were interested and I explored working with each separately. I didn’t end up going with either because I couldn’t get excited about their idea.
• started networking with early stage VCs to see if they have any cofounders looking for CTO: While this didn’t produce leads, the process of talking to VCs helped me realize my value and also gave me great intros for when we need to raise.
• looked at opening positions on linkedin: This did not work as well since most positions were only offering 2-5% and i was looking for equal partner. I still think it was worth trying it.
• did cofounder dating on YC: I talked with more than 50 people and eventually filtered it down to 2. I probably had 5-6 meetings with each and we did the cofounder questionnaire. Picked one of them and tried it out part time. Eventually I realized that this cofounder was too focused on consulting and I decided to part ways. Still excellent experience nonetheless.
• cold outreach: I received a cold email while working with my previous cofounder and decided to take the call to expand my network. The email was well crafted and i was thoroughly impressed. The meeting lived up to the expectations but I was already committed so I passed. 2 months later when I decided to part ways with the original cofounder I reached back and they hadn’t found a cofounder yet so we decided to partner and ride into the sunset.

So, reverse engineering my process, I’d suggest you continue yc cofounder dating but also try cold outreach to people you think would be great fits, even of they have jobs, even if you think you can’t match their salary (I got a 70% pay cut).

If you can’t find people it means that a) your vision isn’t exciting enough, b) people may not be inspired to join you, or c) you just haven’t come across this person yet.

Keep working on your idea, make progress, and build up your case and surely if your idea is worth building you ll find the right person.

 

[dog]

@peggys You story is really interesting, I would say your comment is also well crafted

Have you worked as a marketer before?

Anyway what I wanted to ask probably will come as a dumb question... after all the dating through YC, from the roughly 50 ppl, did you get an idea about what percentage of business they were willing to team up in exchange for being a cofounder?

Not asking for a specific number, just by and large estimate

If you thought it's indeed a stupid question just ignore me

 

[jojothebeloved]

@lo1337 College worked for me

 

[dog]

@jojothebeloved Lucky you

I grow up in a region where a 'Job' is the idea everyone is sold on, starting a business was for fools, and "Only the rich succussed in business"

Long story short, everyone that bought into the Job idea got screwed

 

[anselm77]

@lo1337 In the same boat as OP, I'm struggling to find a developer or a full time CTO and we are tanking investor meets because of outsourcing technology.

My question is, if I have to start where do I start from. Consider I'm a complete noob, but I'm a quick learner.

At the moment, have learned UI/Ux and am decent with figma. But, it stops at making high fidelity prototypes.

It's been over 3 months since I made the prototype, but struggling to find a CTO. Tried outsourcing, but had poor response, they took an advance and never commenced the work.

Tbh, I'm over that, I have come to peace with the fact that unless I code, no decent devloper would even consider working with us, let alone a CTO.

Thank you for reading, please take your time and help me steer the right way.

 

[dynamaniac]

@anselm77 Hey! I'm sort of in the same boat where I have been working on a project for a bit, but am limited by my technical capabilities. I started looking up which language to learn based on my project. Just wanted to check if things have changed for you in the last 5-6 months? Advice would be appreciated!

 

[britnbutler]

@anselm77 I’d honestly be interested in getting a backend off the ground. I can do the front end stuff, but am more interested in building backend systems (AWS, Java or dotnet with some Python)

 

[anselm77]

@britnbutler We would love to have someone with robust backend dev.