

On the path to finding a tech co-founder - nearmint
https://mow.hackpad.com/Finding-a-Co-Founder-k2eo7CudCX1

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scobar
Have you directly expressed that you're looking for a co-founder to your
prospects? Do you have a clearly defined mission for your business? If so, and
you've told the prospects about your mission, their reactions should provide
some insight into which are excited to work toward that goal with you.

I know that while I worked with digital goods, I was very intrigued by and
pursued some challenges for fun when they weren't the best way to increase my
income. The developers who are curiously attracted to the challenges you seek
to overcome may be better than a less-interested but better programmer.

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nearmint
Not sure if anyone will read this wall of text. But if you do, leave a
comment.

~~~
smt88
This is a complicated issue, and no one can give you a concrete solution. A
lot of business, especially startups, is flying by the seat of your pants.
There simply isn't an answer out there, which is what makes it fun, in my
opinion.

(Full disclosure: I skimmed your post, but the advice I'll give you is
universal.)

\- Look for someone mature and experienced. You said you gravitated to the
college student. I strongly recommend against that. You want someone who has
built a ton of products like yours before and can iterate fast. You also want
someone with real success stories on their resume who can act as a strong
source of wisdom. Always try to partner with someone from whom you can learn a
lot.

\- Having lots of time is incredibly important. If your product isn't her top
priority, your CTO is going to become your bottleneck. You want someone who
can go without a salary until you (ideally) make money or (less ideally) raise
money.

\- This is minor, but stop calling the person a CTO. Until you have lots of
employees, you're not chiefs of anything. You're looking for a technical
partner or technical co-founder.

\- What is your product? Come up with a vision and plan for MVP, and then
recruit a technical co-founder. A lot of the best technical people are drawn
to the vision, as well as access to an interesting market. They don't care
much about money. If they wanted it that much, they'd work for one of the
large tech companies.

~~~
nearmint
Hi smt88, having lots of time is important. But the good people are usually
very busy already. I know some C level guys, who would just leave their job
and work with me. But the cool guys are different. Usually the cool guys are
already in good positions and wouldn't just run away from current
responsibilities.

I have to take certain steps, or just start working part-time with them, not
forcing anything, so that one will eventually get rid of his other
responsibilities to work with me.

What do you think?

~~~
smt88
If you want to get something done, make progress every day. If working part-
time with these A people is fast enough to do what you want, then you don't
need a technical co-founder. If it's not, then don't wait for them to quit
their jobs. If the timing is right sometime in the future, great! If not,
don't let them be a bottleneck for you.

The recipe for finding a great co-founder is this: perfect timing + passion +
skill set.

Skills are the least important. You only need your technical co-founder to be
good enough to help you make your first sale. After that, hopefully you'll be
making enough revenue to take you to profitability. If not, you can try to
raise money.

So how do you find the timing/passion parts?

This is where luck comes in. You can make your own luck by meeting lots and
lots of people. You should network like crazy. The best networking is offering
to help people without any expectation of something in return. The more people
in the world who owe you a favor, the better.

You should tell everyone about your ideas. They'll tell friends whom they
think might be interested. Word will get around. Don't be scared to share your
ideas with anyone/everyone.

There's a lot to this, to be honest. I think if you spend time in the Bay
Area, you'll drastically improve your chances of finding a co-founder. It also
helps to be tackling a big, sexy issue that makes potential partners drool
(e.g. transportation, education, etc.)

There are also some accelerators where you come in without an idea. You meet
the other people, get some money, and then form teams to create products.
Since money is not much of an issue for you AND you've been successful in the
past, one of those programs would be perfect for you.

You might want to hop onto Clarity or something and have a conversation with a
Silicon Valley expert/VC about this. I'm not the best person to suggest
concrete steps because your path is so different from mine.

