

How to find a cofounder as a teen - willstrimling

This is follow-up from: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2836268<p>Hello Ask HackerNews,<p>After thinking through all the responses I received on here and elsewhere, I've decided it would be beneficial to seek out a cofounder, but I'm not sure how to go about it because of my age.<p>I have an idea, I really want see through, but I have a problem. First and foremost, I have school starting in about a month. This will limit my ability to work throughout the day. Secondly, I'm finding a hard time thinking of a reason why someone would want to work with me. I come from a technical background, specializing in web languages like html/css/js/php/sql. This application to be made well would need to be coded in Node.js which I have little familiarity with. Furthermore, I'd need a designer, because I'm worthless at that. Where do i fit in?<p>What do you suggest I do to seek out a founder who is interesting in dumping time and committing to working on this project with me.
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benreyes
Your age does not matter. Depending on how old you are and if your a first
time entrepreneur I suggest that you have a big vision but adjust your
tangible goals correctly to the amount of time and resources you have
available to you. Perhaps aim for something you could easily sell to another
company or a product that can gain paying customers.

In terms of finding a co-founder, why not partnering up with another teen?
Events like Young Rewired State (UK -
<http://rewiredstate.org/events/young-2010>), hack days and barcamps all
usually have teens attending them.

Check out TeensInTech (Bay Area - <http://teensintech.com/>) which also runs a
teen tech incubator.

There are also a few online young entrepreneurial groups such as Millennium
Generation <https://www.facebook.com/groups/rockstars> and theres WebeTalk IRC
chat (<http://webetalk.com>) which is frequented by some of the youngest YC
startup founders.

If you want to take a different more active approach try building something
small and useful that will get you tons of press and coverage on HackerNews.
You can also tip TechCrunch (tips@techcrunch.com), building something that
people are aware of outside of you telling them will definitely help you find
and secure a co-founder. On top of that the media and others absolutely love
young entrepreneurs stories. So with a bit of work you will be able to get
coverage.

If you want to team up with a more experienced person, why don't you ask them
to be your mentor, ask their advice (it's generally good to have personal
advisors, they'll help you out). Build that relationship and if things look
good, maybe you could ask them to join as a co-founder or help out. Many
startups do this to acquire higher level executives or even investors.

If you have a technical background, you don't need a co-founder to start. I
hope this helps and good-luck, many of us have been there before.

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willstrimling
Thanks for all the great tips! I have been talking with Daniel Bru and Teens
In Tech closely (and I just attended their conference), and I am trying to
scout out what I'll be able to get from them. Of course, I really found the
blurp about trying to acquire someone as a mentor.

I do have a technical background, but If I aim to seek investment, I believe
it to be far more beneficial to have at least one other person on board, even
if I seek to hire personnel.

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542458
(Sorry for putting this as a comment, but I couldn't figure out how to send
you an email or private message) Hello! I'm an Ottawa based designer, working
on his degree in Industrial Design at Carleton University, with some
experience in web, UI and graphic design. If you're looking for a young
designer who is willing to accept equity as payment, I might be right for you.
Of course, I'd have to be able to know what you're working on, so I'd know if
it's something I can believe in, but I'm sure we could make something work
there.

You can contact me at ndphudson@gmail.com

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aorshan
I would recommend checking out the resources your college has to offer. See if
there is an ACM or a similar organization. If your school has a place to help
students start businesses, talk to them because they can probably help you
meet the right people.

P.S. I am in the same predicament as you. I am about to go back to school and
am worried about how limited my time will be to focus on becoming a better
programmer. If you want to exchange ideas or talk about stuff, my email is in
my profile.

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willstrimling
pssh.. who said anything about college? I'm in highschool. But yes, I see that
our situations are similar. Let me know if you find anything that works for
you.

