Loading...
Answers
MenuSpecific Tactics to find a co-founder, Do you have what it takes? (ONLY real Startup founders answer please)
Answers
Here's what you need to do to recruit any cofounder:
1) Prove or at least instill *high* confidence that you can fund the business or raise the funds required;
2) Demonstrate that you are someone worth following. What have you done previously that clearly shows to others that you have what it takes to succeed?
3) Credibly demonstrate that your idea can create massive success. An idea by itself, no matter how interesting is woefully insufficient.
4) Spend every day making outreach (cold emails, LinkedIn, dribbble, etc) to people, meeting at least 3 a week. You will "kiss many frogs." It's likely you have to meet at least 100 people to find the right person and that assumes you have 1-3.
By the way, in order to actually *meet* 100 good people, you'll have to make outbound to at least 400 people.
5) Negotiate equity and compensation (pre and post funding) and ensure written alignment on how decisions are made between the two of you.
Cofounder relationships are as intense as marriages. And just like getting married, it requires a lot of dating to build the trust.
I'm *totally* unconvinced that two people can find a person they haven't known previously, and become effective cofounders. I think you're better off finding the money to hire someone than actually find a cofounder. The main reason? You probably won't find someone as passionate as you are about what you're building. And keep in mind, I have no idea who you are or what you're building so that's no judgement on you or the idea, just the reality I've observed over 20 years of startups.
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.
There are two websites that come to mind specifically created to match Co-Founders together:
CoFoundersLabs: http://cofounderslab.com/
FounderDating: http://founderdating.com/
Hope they help you in your search!
Out of those that have failed, 23% of start-ups said that not having the right team contributed to their start-up failure. Having two founders on the team, rather than one, significantly increases a start-up’s odds of success. According to Start-up Genome, start-ups will raise start-up capital 30% more investment, grow their customers three times as fast, and will be less likely to scale too quickly.
Ideally, start-ups should mix skill sets. For instance, companies should not have two people that are both tech-focused and do not understand the business or marketing elements of running a start-up. Make sure that if one co-founder is tech-focused, the other has the business acumen to complement the other. Just as a start-up should mix skill sets, they should do the same for personality traits too. For example, having two people who are afraid of public speaking will not benefit the start-up since they will have to pitch to investors, speak to clients, present in front of accelerators, and more. If one co-founder is shy, it is best to have another person who is more outgoing and has confidence in speaking in front of people. In addition to balancing personality traits, it is essential that founders find a partner they can trust. Running a business presents many opportunities for people to do dishonest things. Co-founders can act in a way that causes others to question the ethics of a company or permanently damages the company. This often leads to a person not voicing their concerns or avoiding disagreements, which are issues that can be detrimental to the success of a start-up.
Finding the ideal co-founder can be a long process. But these platforms might help.
1. FounderDating: FounderDating is a platform where entrepreneurs can search for a co-founder, business partner, or mentor.
2. Founder2Be: Like a dating site, Founder2be is a platform that enables start-ups to connect with everyone in tech, from co-founders and designers to developers and marketers.
3. YouNoodle: For start-ups that want to take a different approach, Younoodle is a unique platform that uses competitions and contests to connect co-founders, advisors, and entrepreneurs.
Using online resources is not the only way start-ups can find a co-founder. They can also search groups on social media; LinkedIn offers many groups founders can join to find a co-founder. It is also a task that founders should not take lightly. Founders will often want to rush to the market because they have a great idea that no one has done yet.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Related Questions
-
What does a good advisor bring to the table for a startup?
A good advisor can help a startup in various ways. Here I describe what I do: I work quite a bit with pre-angel/pre-seed/pre-accelerator US-based tech startups (or sometimes even executives/scientists/technologists in corporate jobs toying with a startup idea that they'd consider leaving their jobs for), and have done this now for well over a decade while founding/growing my own companies. Most of these founders come to me from hearing about me from another founder, so I am assuming that founders are finding some value in their interactions with me. At this early-stage in the game, one of the key things I try to do is to separate founders' assumptions about various aspects of the business from facts that they have validated. Another thing founders find useful is examples/ideas of how other startups solved a similar business problem in a creative manner (my voracious reading helps a lot here.) Finally, I also try to take the devil's advocate position on key assertions that the founders make (e.g. why are they & their product uniquely suited to tackle this problem in face of competition) in order to point out counterarguments with the eventual goal of helping them strengthen their case. My engagements with founders tend to take the form of intense 30-75 minute brainstorming sessions (1-3 sessions), which typically provide them with enough food for thought to start executing on various fronts. A small percentage of these startups continue to make great progress over a period of 3-9 months and keep me in the loop via brief email updates. Those ones, I help by providing them critical feedback on their pitch decks (multiple iterations until I think that it is crisp and powerful) and then bring on the radars of my early-stage investor contacts (US-based).Mahesh Bhatia (Early-stage pitch decks)MB
-
What are the pain points felt by external recruiters? How do they deal with these pain points?
since most get paid upon a candidates permanent offer most of the hastle comes from finding the right person. knowing how t filter helps a recruiter incrementally over time leading to repeat customers. feel free to call one of us to help you get going or guiding you through hurdles. :)Humberto Valle Texas Real Estate Investor, Wholesaler, & Airbnb SuperhostHV
-
How do you get a product prototype developed in China sitting in the US?
It varies and it's very very specific to what you want to develop. The concrete design of your circuit matters. Also prototype building costs are usually a factor 10-100 higher than series. If you already have your prototype then you can shop around various manufacturing companies. To do that, you need Gerber files (your PCB design) and a bill of materials. You also need to think about casing: designing it and creating the mold is expensive. If you don't have your prototype yet, I recommend having it engineered in eastern Europe. Custom engineering is cheap there and high quality. IP protection is a problem. One thing to do is to distribute the work to different manufacturers. For the design phase you are safer if you design your prototype in Europe or the US where international patent laws apply. I could give you more specific advise in a phone call, getting to know a bit better what you are trying to build.Gerald FriedlandGF
-
What is your advice for building a team of like-minded individuals to help start your business?
I'm a feelance CFO and I work actively with early stage companies. I've been at this for almost 30 years. Some of my current and recent clients wrestle actively with this very questions. My advice is to have the tough conversations right up front, early in the team building process. This usually consists of answering questions like, "who's in charge and what does that really mean," "who gets how much of the company and when and in exchange for what," "what are you, you and you really bringing to the table in terms of skills and cash," and "who is really in a life situation that will allow them to sustain their commitment to the business?" Any team that can get through these questions can get through the trials of surviving startup. I'm happy to talk with you directly about these issues and, in particular, to help look at them through a strategic financial planning lens.Hakim DyerHD
-
What is a better title for a startup head....Founder or CEO? Are there any pros/cons to certain titles?
The previous answers given here are great, but I've copied a trick from legendary investor Monish Pabrai that I've used in previous startups that seems to work wonders -- especially if your company does direct B2B sales. Many Founders/ CEOs are hung up on having the Founder/ CEO/ President title. As others have mentioned, those titles have become somewhat devalued in today's world -- especially if you are in a sales meeting with a large organization. Many purchasing agents at large organizations are bombarded by Founders/ CEOs/ Presidents visiting them all day. This conveys the image that a) your company is relatively small (the CEO of GM never personally sells you a car) and b) you are probably the most knowledgeable person in the organization about your product, but once you land the account the client company will mostly be dealing with newly hired second level staff. Monish recommends that Founder/ CEOs hand out a business card that has the title "Head of Sales" or "VP of Sales". By working in the Head of Sales role, and by your ability to speak knowledgeably about the product, you will convey the message that a) every person in the organization is very knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the product (even the sales guys) and b) you will personally be available to answer the client's questions over the long run. I've used this effectively many times myself.Vijay Rao, CFA, FRMVR
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.
