

Ask HN: A new twist: How do developers find viable business-y co-founders? - qwer

I know the reverse of this question gets asked all the time, but it's also pretty hard for developers to meet other potential founders that are more on the business side. I'm a jack-of-all-trades developer, so I don't really feel the need to find a co-founder that's technical -- I think it'd be more useful to get someone with the people/sales/marketing skill-set. Unfortunately it's really hard to separate "idea people" from people with real skills that will actually work hard enough to make something happen, until after you've actually worked with them. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that there are a lot of people out there that just want to ride coattails.<p>(I'm not looking for offers through here... I'm just wondering how other developers have done it)
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CookWithMe
It's really a good question and I have been wondering about this for some time
too. I can't really offer anything valuable except that Google is a great
success story:

"Mr. Brin and Mr. Page, the co-founders, spent nearly a year searching for a
chief executive before settling on Mr. Schmidt almost two years ago. In the
words of Mr. Brin, who is now 29, ''He was the only candidate who had been to
Burning Man,'' a counterculture techno-arts festival held annually in the
Nevada desert." from [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/business/in-searching-
the-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/business/in-searching-the-web-
google-finds-riches.html?pagewanted=3&src=pm)

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helen842000
Connect with those that you admire the work of, something that demonstrates
skills you don't have. The best business people are still creators & get a lot
done - just not with code.

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smit
Hackernews has "business-y" folks who might be active. You want people who can
show that they've done marketing or hustled in things before. They probably
have a blog which would give you an idea of what they are about. They should
be on twitter engaging and basically have a good online presence because thats
important to spread the word for any business.

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codeonfire
Take an MBA class at night and you'll meet lots of actual people working in
business areas. Or work at a big company. Both will give you the opportunity
to work with people and judge their abilities. Apparent success is probably
not going to be a good filter. There are whole industries built on appearing
successful and hardworking.

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trosen42
The ones I've met have been friends, friends of friends, or co-workers of
friends. It takes me a lot longer to trust the value a business person will
add than a developer, but if someone you know recommends them and can attest
they were the top sales person in their startup for instance, then I'm more
interested in working with them.

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ig1
Track record and personal recommendations, find someone who was an early
employee at a successful startup in a similar space doing the role you care
about and poach them.

