

Ask HN: How about a Co-founders Search Site? - alexwyser

Recently, someone on HN started a HN Contractors spreadsheet so that it becomes easy to find contractors who are here at HN.<p>I was wondering if anyone would be interested in developing a website around that idea. Only instead of contractors, it would be for findingco-founders.<p>I was thinking that the site would have two sections.<p>In one, it would allow people wiling to work for equity to post their skills/resumes.<p>In the other, it would allow people to post their ideas (say a web app they want to build), and put up requests for developers, designers, etc, who have the necessary skills. And also indicate how much equity s/he would be willing to share with each.<p>The reason I think this will be good idea is because I am a designer and a very good one at that (my portfolio is at www.alexwyser.com), but I dont have any coding skills. My head is full of all kinds of interesting ideas, but I cannot execute them. If a talented developer(s) would be willing to work with me on my ideas, I would gladly give him/her 80% or more of the equity.<p>I understand that it is best to find co-founders from among you real-life friends/acquaintances, but some people simply don't know anyone with the right skills.<p>I am sure that a lot of people here have ideas they can't execute because they lack the skill and don't know anyone with those skills, and would find this site very helpful.<p>So what do you guys think? Would it work? Is it worth trying out? Would anyone like to work with me to build this website?
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Serene
A few more sites that help to find co-founders:

<http://founderdating.com/> <http://startupsquare.com/>

Why don't you start a meetup group like this one? <http://www.meetup.com/Co-
Founders-Wanted-Meetup/> Briefings from the meetings:
[http://aurametrix.blogspot.com/2010/03/bay-area-startups-
loo...](http://aurametrix.blogspot.com/2010/03/bay-area-startups-looking-
for.html) [http://aurametrix.blogspot.com/2009/11/bay-area-startups-
loo...](http://aurametrix.blogspot.com/2009/11/bay-area-startups-looking-
for.html)

If you want to build something similar to what already exists, you will be
able to do it by yourself. If you want to create something like e-Harmony -
matching people based on demographic, educational, job history, psychological
and behavioral characteristics and their encounters, feeding gigabytes of data
into sophisticated models on a daily basis, think about measurable
expectations before proceeding.

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symbiotic
You might want to check out: <http://builditwith.me/>

I posted an idea on there a while back and got several responses from
interested developers and designers.

In the end I decided that I wanted to work with someone who I could meet face
to face and who I had a previous relationship with. I think it's hard to set
this type of thing up through a website.

~~~
alexwyser
Interesting...this is exactly what I was looking for, its exactly what I
outline, and its design is top-notch as well. I always thought that a site
like this would be very popular, I guess I was wrong...

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david927
People are loathe to register the ideas they're working on, for obvious
reasons. Here are a couple sites that I know of:

<http://findmycofounder.com>

<http://programmermeetdesigner.com>

~~~
alexwyser
That's why the site would have a section that lists all the programmers, so
the entrepreneurs can contact them directly instead of posting their idea.

Those who post their ideas will find potential "matches" faster though.

<http://programmermeetdesigner.com> doesnt have a good userbase to be useful
enough.

<http://findmycofounder.com> seems to be one-half of what I'm talking about. I
havent used it so I dont know how good it is.

Somehow I think that a site that is launched by the HN Community would be
perfect for this.

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vital101
I think that it's an interesting idea. But why wouldn't someone just put out a
call for co-founders on Hacker News like you just did?

~~~
alexwyser
They could, but its only OK if one or two people do it. If everyone looking
for a cofounder comes to HN, they would ruin this sites usefulness in terms of
getting "news".

------
bgnm2000
I think you should learn to code. Check out ruby, and ROR - pretty easy to
pick up.

~~~
alexwyser
It takes way too long to learn a language well enough to make anything decent.

Plus I am a designer, so I use the wrong side of the brain :) While I find the
end result of programming very interesting, I find the process of programming
(and learning it) extremely boring.

~~~
bgnm2000
Thats a ridiculous thing to say.

I know someone who learned ruby, and rails in 6 months, built an app - and was
part of techstars boston last year.

I also am personally a UI designer professionally, I taught myself ruby and
rails in much less than 6 months, and have also built two apps already.

Its nice being able to bring your designs to life, can't help you with the
boring thing, I like math/problem solving so it keeps me entertained.

~~~
alexwyser
Can you tell how you managed to learn it in 6 months. What tutorials did you
follow? What books did you read? In what order?

