Ideas wanted on how to find a qualified co-founder?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=526694

by jdileo • 17 years ago

2 9 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I am an east coast entreprenuer who has recently shut down a non-tech company I founded and plan to move to silicon valley to start my next company, this time in the internet space.

I am moving to the valley with considerable savings to found a start-up. I have a great idea, bootstrapping success and operational experience BUT....no hacking experience.

With no tech sphere of influence I'm looking for proven ideas to meet brilliant technologist co-founder(s).

Any thoughts?

jpwagner2• 17 years ago

I'd say you're looking up the right avenue, but it may be hard for people on this forum to help you out if you do not have more details about what you're trying to do.

Why are you moving to the Bay Area? What's the market segment? What, technically, are you trying to do? ...

jdileo3• 17 years ago

Moving to Bay Area because I believe Paul Graham & Marc Andreesen are correct when they say that serious tech. players should locate to the tech capital. (see their posts on the subject so I don't have to re-type :)

Website idea leverages consumer buyers-impulse in way not done to date. Need hacker(s) that have technical ability to build top-notch retail site....I know this is vague, and non-inspirational, but I don't want to give away full concept for obvious reasons.

kanny96• 17 years ago

It is always tough to find a co-founder. I am also looking for one, my expertise being in voice and natural language technology. I guess it has to do with establishing the trust and that is best done in physical proximity over a few meetings or like love, it can just happen. I am from India, but willing to partner with really motivated people in US. You can contact me on this id at aol.com

jdileo3• 17 years ago

FYI-Co Founder does not need capital to invest....I have that covered. Stanford Grad. Students, where are you??

jpwagner2• 17 years ago

Are you sure when you say "Co Founder" you don't mean "employee"??? Maybe post to "jobs."

owkaye2• 17 years ago

Since you have the money why don't you just hire someone to do the programming work for you? Then you'll own 100% of the business, you'll be giving an unemployed programmer a job, and you'll never have to deal with the issues that come up between co-founders when they see things differently.

Personally I think the only reason for a co-founder is if you don't have the money to hire someone to do the work you cannot or will not do yourself. Or if you're such a lazy person or so unfocused that you cannot just get the work done yourself without someone else pushing you all the time ... although if this description applies to you then I would suggest that you're not cut-out to be anything other than an employee anyways.

I've been self-employed for almost three decades and I have never missed having a co-founder for anything I've ever done. But I'm highly self-motivated and seldom second-guess my decisions, and with so many years in business I have more than my share of experience doing all kinds of different work -- including programming. So maybe this is why I never missed having a co-founder.

I guess if you want to get funding from Y you'll need a co-founder since PG apparently doesn't fund companies without one -- not many of them anyways. But since you said you don't need the money I cannot for the life of me figure out why you would even want a co-founder ...

Do you really think it's an intelligent move to give away a huge chunk of your future business simply to find a competent programmer???

Regardless of your answer, I think you should hire a programmer instead of trying to partner with one (unless you really don't have as much money as you suggest) ... and there are lots of places to find programmers other than the Bay Area.

I also think you're going to have to get over your fear of someone stealing your idea, and start explaining it in more detail, before you'll find the person or people who will do the programming that makes it a reality. I'm willing to bet that you're not even the first to think of your idea. You might even be surprised when you explain it to learn that other people here already know of similar services, either currently in existence or in the process of being developed.

jdileo3• 17 years ago

I appreciate you taking the time to write this well thought out response owkaye. My interest in a co-founder stems from me having no experience in hacking or tech, felt it best to bring in someone with vested interest. Wasn't thinking 50/50, probably more like 80/20 because I'll be funding. You make some good points I am going to think about heavily.

Regarding YC, I believe they offer a ton of value beyond the money...especially for someone on the outside like me. The mindsharing, networking to other YC founders and hopefully, eventually, VC's when the beta iterates successfully are worth giving them a vig.

owkaye2• 17 years ago

"Regarding YC, I believe they offer a ton of value beyond the money."

I'm sure they do, but finding a co-founder who is a programmer just to get into their program seems rather ass-backwards if you ask me. I would much rather own 100% of my company, hire a programmer to do that work, and use my time to make my own contacts.

If you think you have to move to the Valley to make these contacts there's nothing wrong with moving. People always brag about it being a common everyday occurrence to meet and chat with VC's there anyways. I don't know how true this is, but that's only because I've never been there to experience the environment firsthand.

And I'm not belittling the value of YC in any way, I'm just reminding you that there are other ways of doing things than the ways you've conceived. Whether or not they work for you is up to you to decide.

I have a very independent outlook on life and business, so even if this might work well for me it doesn't mean it would work for you or others. I would actually love to partner with the right people in a new venture, but I won't take the time to seek them out because of two reasons:

1- I know I can be successful on my own without them, and if I take time out I will have to sacrifice the progress I'm already making in order to find them, and ...

2- Given the unreliable nature of the task of finding a reliable 'partner' I feel it makes more sense for me to just stick to what I've already started, and just keep working on it myself.

If the right partner comes along for me that's great, but I won't lose any sleep over it if I have to do everything myself. I get a lot of support from my wife anyways, and it's probably better support than I might get from another kind of 'partner'. This may be another reason why I do not agree with some online claims that having a co-founder is so important to the success of a new business.

On the other hand, I was launching new ventures years before I met my wife, and going back to "doing it all myself" simply doesn't phase me in the least. I am not one of those folks who need someone else around to keep my energy and focus, that's all. For better or worse that's just the way I am.

DanielBMarkham• 17 years ago

Hi jdileo, I'm an east coast hacker who has lived in very rural areas and has not had the opportunity to hook up with reasonably-financed partners because of the location of where I live.

I'm looking to move to the Valley for my next startup, however, and my expertise is not only on hacking internet applications together its also on growing small teams into large organizations. My day job is advising large organizations how to run their teams like startups. I've written several web applications as startups in the past but never seemed to make it past the first stage. I've also consulted with a few startups and know their pains.

I also like bunnies and puppies and long walks in the park.

(grin)

Good luck to you, my friend. I've been actively seeking a cofounder for about a year. I'm not sure what the magic formula is. Perhaps it might be best to get out there, set up shop, and do some networking for a month or two.

As to hiring and percentage ownership and such, put your checkbook away. If you're serious about a startup, go 50-50 with whomever you hook up with. Startups are inherently risky. You need another brain that's in this struggle with you 100%, not some schmuck looking for a paycheck. Don't get me wrong -- there are great employees out there. But what you need is technical vision, not just technical execution. You don't know what you don't know. And employees aren't going to fix that.

Having said all of that, you come at this in a severe disadvantage -- you've already had a successful business. That means you're not as hungry as the average person. The next startup I'm in, I have to make it work or go back to consulting. You can always hang out for another year and see how things go. At some point, your "runway" can be too long. I really believe you can have too much money for this sort of thing. I'd also think about a three-person team just to balance it out and prevent deadlocks. I can't overemphasize how critical people selection are to team performance. It's critical enough in any kind of business endeavor, but in startups? Having the right folks that mix the right way is gold -- literally.

Hope that helps you. Glad to continue a conversation if you'd like. Just drop me an email.

Ideas wanted on how to find a qualified co-founder?

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