
Ask HN: How did you find your co-founder? - fourstar
Currently trying to find a co-founder for a product that I’ve built and brought traffic to.<p>Struggling to find a co-founder especially considering all the work and money I’ve invested in it already. Aka: I’d have a hard time giving up half equity to.
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tlb
Some advice about splitting equity when one person has already put time and
money into it: [https://blog.ycombinator.com/splitting-equity-among-
founders...](https://blog.ycombinator.com/splitting-equity-among-founders/)

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mooreds
Angelist was how my co-founder found me. It came via an email. No idea if it
cost money. She'd been looking for a few months for a technical co-founder to
take the idea from PowerPoint/manual prototype to MVP.

There was a vetting process (on both sides, it's like getting married!)
including a technical interview.

Equity was a difficult conversation, but better to set it out at the
beginning. Lots of calculators out there via Google that can help provide
perspective. Make sure you vest over years. (We did a 6 month/6 month/every
month for 36 months schedule.)

Also, why do you need a cofounder? What are they going to bring to the table?

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muzani
I bought a business ebook from a guy. He added me on Facebook. He was really
smart. He brought in a lot of trading experience. I had startup experience
which he was interested in. We clicked well.

I still did a lot of the hard work and money, gave him only a minority share.
He was okay with that. Later on, I added a much larger share when he proved he
could commit.

We made good, ambitious progress. I'm surprised he stuck with me through it
all, especially since I didn't really know him that well. There were times he
canceled his health insurance and slept on the office floor to keep things
going.

Personally, I think partners who are strangers work better than good friends
but YMMV.

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thiago_fm
I have no problem getting <40% if you have traction and a great idea. I bring
a loooooot of experience and great things. I also believe there is a bunch of
people here that wouldn't mind and think the same way.

Is it a problem really with 50% equity, or your idea/product?

You can as well be meeting the wrong people.

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dmarlow
Who said you had to give half?

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fourstar
No one, but I’d anticipate most would request close to that.

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mooreds
Have you actually proven this hypothesis. I know of at least two instances
where a co-founder got less than half when joining at a very early stage.

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fourstar
What do you recommend? I’ve built the site from scratch and spent almost 20k
on content creation.

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mooreds
I think you have to find a couple of possible co-founders, evaluate who you
want and who wants to join, and have a frank discussion with them about an
equity split.

It's really hard to recommend in the general because you might find a co-
founder who brings so much to the table (money, skills, relationships,
experience) that they deserve 50% or more) and you might find one that only
brings technical skills in which case the amount might be much much less
(15-35%).

It's really all a negotiation, but you can't figure it out until you know who
is interested in joining. Maybe no one will be and all this discussion will be
for naught.

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fourstar
Thanks for the insight! Reached out to an old friend and I’m now shilling him.
Wish me luck ;)

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p1esk
What are you offering exactly?

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fourstar
I mean I built the entire product, paid for content creation and continue to
do so, and continue to add features. But I’d like to have a co-founder as
someone to bounce ideas off of and generally be around to help grow the
business.

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p1esk
Well, if you expect them to work for free, on your idea, then I personally
would not agree to anything less than 50%. Almost all startups fail, so I'd be
buying a (very expensive) lottery ticket. Keep in mind that I could be working
on my own idea instead if I could afford it. Very few ideas are attractive
enough to persuade me to join.

But if you're ready to offer some salary (even if just 50% of the market
rate), then of course 50% equity would be too generous.

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softwarefounder
Why do you need a co-founder?

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fourstar
To kick ideas off of, mainly.

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mooreds
Pay a coach. That'll be much cheaper.

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muzani
I've had both. Coaches are great - the main reason we hit PMF within 2 weeks.

But sometimes you need someone emotionally invested in it. Cofounders are much
better. They don't necessarily have to have 50% share. I'd be happy to take on
someone whose sole purpose is to be the customer surrogate and give them a 20%
share.

My cofounder helped to keep a leash on me doing really dumb things. All good
entrepreneurs are relentless, and a cofounder helps to keep it in perspective.
Also a cofounder adds their network, and my minority share co-founder landed
the acquisition.

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mooreds
Totally get that co-founders and coaches provide different levels of
perspective. But if, as the parent of my comment said, all you are looking for
is "[t]o kick ideas off of" someone, just get a coach or a mentor. Co-founders
should help with everything, including execution.

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fourstar
Guess I need a few co-founders. A designer/product person and perhaps another
engineer so I can focus more on operations.

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segmondy
Join YC startup school

