You didn't find a cofounder. You found a date for a party. In six months you may look back at this post and facepalm, or you may have a healthy relationship. You just don't know yet.
Despite the above being pessimistic, it is absolutely (and sadly) spot on.
Let me detail a little bit, as often short concise posts are only evident to those with the experience, and appear dismissive or not very constructive to those without.
The best candidates for co-founders are people you've already worked with, in a situation where your livelihood didn't depend on it (school project, same team at another company, etc.).
When you launch a company with someone, you will essentially spend all of your waking hours in their company. That includes the long hours at the office, but also the phone calls at 11pm, the emails at 9 in the morning on Sundays, etc.
In order for this to work out, you need someone you absolutely trust and can communicate effectively with, in the context of a healthy professional relationship.
It's hard. I have really close friends with whom I would never start a company; there are people people I have worked with and deeply admire with whom I would never start a company. It's really hard.
That's why if you want to maximize your chances of it working out, you have to really be confident about your choice. Picking someone you'd never met the week prior and making them your cofounder can work out, just like it can fail miserably. There are already so many variables in a startup; why add another unnecessary one?
(I'm glad I wrote this entire post without making a parallel with marriage! :D )
I completely agree. The way I put it in the incubator application was "Finding a cofounder is half-way between finding a housemate and a significant other". There's no way to tell whether anything like this will work out right away.
Regardless, we'll see what happens. Some people were interested in the analytics behind the site, so that was one of my primary reasons for posting - and the backstory to give context.
More helpful would be actual suggestions on how to find a co-founder when ex-co-workers don't want to leave their safe employers, and classmates/spouses/siblings/are not an option.
I was under the impression that finding a cofounder was something that takes time and shouldn't be rushed, which is why it's often compared to getting married.
i feel sorry for this type of request from the angel investor..
how one can be sure that what someone need is a cofounder without really look at a case carefully.. how someone can be sure that the other guy wont cause more trouble than solutions.. the thing is.. nobody really knows..
its a stupid request.. for me is a sort of "im the guy.. i have the money... you want me to help you? so first dance on top of this table and pretend you are a monkey.. "
Im working at something by myself.. and its working.. im sure that for a lot of people is the same.. If you are really confident of what you are doing..
you would just ignore this sort of stupid comment and try other things..
Look like a desperate and unecessary atitude..
sometimes even taking the funding from this angel will give you some headaches.. so maybe another door closed.. but with you doing the right thing.. theres no price for this.. and maybe is for the better!
Thoreau wrote "The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready." It's a shame so many entrepreneurs desperately seeking co-founders ignore the simple wisdom in this.
Putting your life and business plans on hold to find a co-founder when you don't have one and can't articulate a legitimate need for one is usually a reliable way to produce the financial equivalent of slipping on a mossy rock and slowly starving to death in a ravine with a broken leg.
I'm curious if the OP has seen http://founderdating.com/about/. It seems to be what he was looking for. Not sure how big the presence is in AUS though.
Has anybody used Founder Dating, especially not in the Bay Area? It seems like an interesting concept, and something I might be interested in, but not if its network is poor or doesn't serve the rest of the country.
I've used it in Austin. I think the idea is flawed, but I've wasted $50 in worse ways before. Basically, everyone shows up with ideas they're already committed to, so no one finds co-founders.
