
How to Find the Right Co-Founders - sebst
http://steveblank.com/2014/09/16/who-do-you-need-on-your-startup-team/
======
jacques_chester
You need the Business Model Canvas to Canvas the Business Model Canvas. Once
you've Business Modelled on the Canvas, the Canvas Businesses the Model.
Business Model Canvas, interstitial words, Business Model Canvas.

Malkovitch? Business Model Canvas.

~~~
gamebit07
Had this article posted anywhere else, given Steve Blanc's air, it would have
started defining new rules.

At HN, you don't BS, not even, when you are @sgblank.

------
idlewords
"Co-founders Skills are the First Derivative of the Business Model Canvas"

My Internet safety helmet snapped shut after that line.

~~~
smilliken
You're right, it really should be expressed the other way: integrate skill
with respect to time and you get the company's business model. Presumably
skill is a vector-valued function that traces out the company's core
competencies over time, and naturally the "Business Model Canvas" is a surface
that represents the accumulated area along this function.

The point the article is making is a corollary of this. You want to choose co-
founders that are linearly-independent in skill-space and maximize the
magnitude of each of the desired components over time. Over a large enough
interval, this is the same as optimizing on the first derivative of skill, or
maximizing in skill-learning space (preferring higher values at t=0, ceteris
paribus).

~~~
beachstartup
uh, right. in english, is you want to find people you can actually work day to
day with, who are actually capable of learning things and doing things on time
while communicating problems.

in reality this tends to be the following kind of people:

* generally not your childhood friends, though i've given contract work to childhood friends and it turned out fine.

* professional acquaintances / previous coworkers / someone you've seen work on a day to day basis

* people you've talked with on irc for years and who aren't insane

* major contributors to open source software you use

* a reference from someone in an entrepreneurial network

~~~
nostrademons
The interesting thing I've noticed about cofounders is that basically every
rule about cofounders has been broken by at least one billion-dollar startup:

"Don't be a single founder"? E-bay.

"Don't do a shotgun wedding. The founders have to have known each other for a
while and worked on projects together before they jump into the stress of a
startup"? DropBox (met through a mutual classmate's introduction after Drew's
first YC application) and GitHub (met at a networking meetup).

"Don't do an uneven equity split"? Microsoft, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon,
Netscape.

"Don't be an asshole"? Apple, Oracle, SnapChat.

"Make sure everyone's willing to quit their day job or not return to school"?
Apple (Steve Wozniak initially wasn't willing to leave HP until their VC
convinced him), Google (Larry and Sergey tried to sell the company and finish
their Ph.Ds, but nobody was willing to buy at the price they wanted, < $1M).

"Get a technical cofounder"? This one's harder, the only companies I can think
of are Auctomatic (which had technical cofounders after it merged with the
Collison brothers), Digg (which didn't do so well), and Travelocity (which was
a spin-off of American Airlines).

This doesn't mean the rules are invalid, but it does point out how many
exceptions there are. I think that usually a good test is simply that it feels
right, that you want to work with that person.

------
mvd366
The title and content of this post seem to address vastly different subjects.
Nowhere in the article does it attempt to address the task of "finding the
right co-founders." I must admit, I was a bit let down...

~~~
hkarthik
Agreed. It had more to do with determining the skill sets required for a
successful founding team. Which is only one step. The next (and probably much
harder step) is finding people WITH these skills that are willing to work
together on a startup.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
That would be a meet-up worth attending - one where the attendees were vetted
for skills and willingness.

------
lowglow
Just so everyone is aware, Steve has ghost writers. This may or may not have
actually been written by him.

~~~
sblank
really? I'd love to meet them.

~~~
lowglow
Hi Steve. :) Yes, If I can remember the young woman's name I'll let you know.
She had brunette hair IIRC.

[edit] To further that, if you're telling the truth, then I can't imagine why
someone would lie about having that job.

------
moron4hire
This is, "how to define your ideal startup roster", like some people define
their ideal mate. This has nothing to do with actually finding said people.

------
recalibrator
This is an ad.

------
keeptrying
Hmmm. This is more about findign the right employee.

Everything looks like a nail when all you ever want to sell is a hammer.

------
nishantradia
Apart from techniacl competency, If the guy loves the same sitcom as you- he's
the guy !!

------
damoncali
Is this a joke?

------
netcan
Common wisdom is that cofounders should be sought early on. However, this is
not the only approach. The ideal cofounder is a socially awkward genius, a
proverbial Wozniak. He is capable of long hours, engineering feats and
brilliant work. Such a man is hard to seduce, by traditional means.

So, finding your Woz is one problem. An even trickier problem is ensnaring
him. This requires some craftiness. One thing to avoid is ideas. Ideas just
introduce the possibility of boring the Woz with a job he doesn't want to be
doing. Instead, go straight to recruiting interns. I am really hesitant to say
this, considering the moral implications but this is unavoidable: young
attractive, impressionable interns. Female will usually work best, but you
can't be certain. Some days an unusual bait will outfish everything so don't
discount young men or other non traditional choices. Avoid over the top and
extroverted beauty. An understated, geeky 23 year old brunette with a tendency
to wide eyed admiration is a good, safe choice. Interns are available at
affordable prices at your nearest University.

Once you've baited your hook, approach slowly. Ask questions. Advice. Try to
use pose interesting challenges. This is a game of seduction. Her job is to
bring him to you. You're job is to be hapless, but good hearted.
Egalitarianism tendencies can be overpowering, Your Woz will not let this
beautiful young woman (or man, do I have to keep doing this?) set herself up
for failure. You must encourage an inescapable desire to be helpful, fueled by
poorly understood romantic desires and a touch of fatherly care.

Step 2 underpants.

Step 3 profit

EDIT: I see this comment has been poorly received. Would anyone like to join
me as junior cofounder of an internship startup?

~~~
sergiotapia
What the fuck am I reading?

~~~
alexanderss
Seriously, this is what gives Hacker News a bad name.

