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Recruiting: Specific Tactics to find a co-founder, Do you have what it takes? (ONLY real Startup founders answer please)
WP
WP
William Pietri, Startup CTO and Lean Startup expert answered:

You're approaching this the wrong way around. People don't join up because *you* want them to. They join up because *they* want to join. So you have to be talking about the latter.

You've listed a bunch of places to find designers with strong pedigrees. But those people are all a) doing something interesting and rewarding right now, and b) have plenty of opportunities. If you contact people like that cold with notes like what you've written above (demanding, presumptuous, randomly punctuated) you will have zero success. Zero.

Instead start talking about what you have to offer. Tell people about the great opportunity you see. Tell people how design will be key. Tell people how you know you can't do this yourself, and so you're looking to find and enable a designer to do things you can't imagine. Tell people about the money you've raised, the partners lined up, the distribution channels ready to go. And talk about it not to the designers directly, but to your friends who know designers. Because the people you are looking for will take you much more seriously if the opportunity comes recommended by a friend.

And if you can't do that, then yes, just go raise money and hire a designer. Co-founders are partners, almost family. Too many people say they want a co-founder, when really what they want is an employee who will work for free. If you want an employee, just pay 'em. Partnerships that aren't true partnerships end up a mess for everybody.

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