
I had three days to find a cofounder. This is what I did - anthonycole
http://anthonycole.me/2013/04/23/three-days-to-find-a-cofounder/
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diego
You didn't find a cofounder. You found a date for a party. In six months you
may look back at this post and facepalm, or you may have a healthy
relationship. You just don't know yet.

~~~
GuiA
Despite the above being pessimistic, it is absolutely (and sadly) spot on.

Let me detail a little bit, as often short concise posts are only evident to
those with the experience, and appear dismissive or not very constructive to
those without.

The best candidates for co-founders are people you've already worked with, in
a situation where your livelihood didn't depend on it (school project, same
team at another company, etc.).

When you launch a company with someone, you will essentially spend all of your
waking hours in their company. That includes the long hours at the office, but
also the phone calls at 11pm, the emails at 9 in the morning on Sundays, etc.

In order for this to work out, you need someone you absolutely trust and can
communicate effectively with, in the context of a healthy professional
relationship.

It's hard. I have really close friends with whom I would never start a
company; there are people people I have worked with and deeply admire with
whom I would never start a company. It's really hard.

That's why if you want to maximize your chances of it working out, you have to
really be confident about your choice. Picking someone you'd never met the
week prior and making them your cofounder can work out, just like it can fail
miserably. There are already so many variables in a startup; why add another
unnecessary one?

(I'm glad I wrote this entire post without making a parallel with marriage! :D
)

~~~
anthonycole
I completely agree. The way I put it in the incubator application was "Finding
a cofounder is half-way between finding a housemate and a significant other".
There's no way to tell whether anything like this will work out right away.

Regardless, we'll see what happens. Some people were interested in the
analytics behind the site, so that was one of my primary reasons for posting -
and the backstory to give context.

~~~
dannyr
Trust is one of the most important aspects of cofounders.

With such a short time, how do you know if you can trust him or vice-versa?

Trust is something that can only be built over time.

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reustle
I was under the impression that finding a cofounder was something that takes
time and shouldn't be rushed, which is why it's often compared to getting
married.

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oscargrouch
i feel sorry for this type of request from the angel investor..

how one can be sure that what someone need is a cofounder without really look
at a case carefully.. how someone can be sure that the other guy wont cause
more trouble than solutions.. the thing is.. nobody really knows..

its a stupid request.. for me is a sort of "im the guy.. i have the money...
you want me to help you? so first dance on top of this table and pretend you
are a monkey.. "

Im working at something by myself.. and its working.. im sure that for a lot
of people is the same.. If you are really confident of what you are doing..
you would just ignore this sort of stupid comment and try other things..

Look like a desperate and unecessary atitude.. sometimes even taking the
funding from this angel will give you some headaches.. so maybe another door
closed.. but with you doing the right thing.. theres no price for this.. and
maybe is for the better!

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7Figures2Commas
Thoreau wrote "The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with
another must wait till that other is ready." It's a shame so many
entrepreneurs desperately seeking co-founders ignore the simple wisdom in
this.

~~~
trhtrsh
The man who goes alone can also slip on a mossy rock and slowly starve to
death in a ravine with a broken leg.

~~~
7Figures2Commas
Putting your life and business plans on hold to find a co-founder when you
don't have one and can't articulate a _legitimate_ need for one is usually a
reliable way to produce the financial equivalent of slipping on a mossy rock
and slowly starving to death in a ravine with a broken leg.

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jconley
I'm curious if the OP has seen <http://founderdating.com/about/>. It seems to
be what he was looking for. Not sure how big the presence is in AUS though.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
Has anybody used Founder Dating, especially not in the Bay Area? It seems like
an interesting concept, and something I might be interested in, but not if its
network is poor or doesn't serve the rest of the country.

~~~
natrius
I've used it in Austin. I think the idea is flawed, but I've wasted $50 in
worse ways before. Basically, everyone shows up with ideas they're already
committed to, so no one finds co-founders.

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shaunxcode
Clicking through to your actual project (residen.se) I noticed "solid
communication chanel" I am pretty sure you meant to say "channel"?

Great idea though, we are currently renting and it would be great to have
something like this to communicate with our landlord with v.s. txt messages.

~~~
anthonycole
Thanks mate, I've reworded that as it was a bit awkward anyway :)

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iamtyce
Anthony, the site displays fine in Firefox (v 20.0, OSX 10.8.3).

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jacalata
You made a page that doesn't display in firefox? <http://imgur.com/OrPMl6g>

~~~
anthonycole
I'm using the twentytwelve WordPress theme which utilises the Open Sans Google
Font - maybe a cdn issue? _shrug_.

~~~
jacalata
yea, works ok today. Looked really weird though - I would have thought it
would fall back to a supported font?

