co-founder, silicon-valleyI wonder how people can find a co-founder to launch a startup. I mainly think about the tech startups in the Valley, but as far as I know, there are far more successful companies founded by multiple founders than by single.
And I suspect that those companies were started by founders who met each other at the university, if not start it while at the university.
While I don’t have any statistics in handy, let me presume for the time being that it is more likely to be successful if the company is co-founded, and those co-founders are more likely to meet each other via college network than not, both of which I guess are true.
This view is likely in coincidence with some people recommending co-founding in the Valley, like Peter Thiel and Paul Graham. But while they explain the reasons, they don’t talk much about how people can find a co-founder without college network, as far as I investigate. Well, Paul claim that it is the best to find him or her in college, and then at work, but he didn’t talk about other options.
For your information I dropped out of a college, and I don’t have any friends at all. I’m not American and have never lived in USA.
So to recap my question, here is the primary point of what I want to ask:
If you don’t have a college network (and prior working network), how can you find a co-founder?
If you have to find a co-founder outside of the above two, is it better to look for someone by job or skill, or by the same goal and then make him or her (or myself) transform their own role to meet the needs among the team (e.g. if I am a software dev and the potential co-founder is also a software dev, either the one transforms to a designer or marketer or hardware dev or whatever that should work for the team)?
I don’t just want to find a co-founder; I want to find a co-founder in a way that is going to lead to success. That’s why I don’t like a meetup, which I don’t find leading to success.
Success in a startup is strongly influenced by 1) working very very hard, 2) never believing that you will fail.
The question seems to be about risk management in people selection, particularly a co-founder. The college connection is an illustration of an organic process that happened when people met, as in meetup. It sounds like you’re asking for an inorganic process that will reduce risk. The meetup may be favourable as it provides an opportunity to test chemistry, which will be key in a co-founder relationship.
I would also be sure that it is indeed a co-founder that you are looking for. If you seek someone who will be passive and defer to you most of the time, it may be that you are looking for an employee, not a co-founder with whom you will have to compromise. There are many websites for finding employees.
Lots of web sites are intending to solve this specific problem.
Google search the following: co-founder match maker and you should see a wealth of options pop up. The one I have some experience with is https://www.cofounderslab.com. But there are others worth taking a good look at.
I don’t just want to find a co-founder; I want to find a co-founder in a way that is going to lead to success. That’s why I don’t like a meetup, which I don’t find leading to success.
IMHO, the spirit of that above paragraph is an obstacle to your success. It suggests you don’t want to get messy. In my experience, a willingness to get messy is an essential characteristic every successful entrepreneur needs in copious quantities.
I think you should come up on sites like Linkedin, then gradually connect with people. Patience is a very important key along with hard work and luck. As per i have read about founders anywhere whether setting up a large scale company or to a small startup. Keep Working is the key along with risk taking ability which leads to success gradually. It is a gradual process.
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