Ask HN: Where and how do you find entrepreneurial backend hackers?

[adityakothadiya]

For last 2-3 months I've been trying to get someone on the board as a co-founder who is good or atleast interested in areas like data-mining/information retrieval/Hadoop etc. I've talked to atleast 15 people during that period, but didn't find any success yet. I've tried LinkedIn, Meetup Events, Conferences, etc, but didn't find the right person.

Most of the people I met, were from either business or frontend (UI design) background. I only met handful of data-mining/hadoop guys. The ones with I talked to were either happy about their current jobs or they already have some project going on in the part-time (with no commercial interest), so they can't commit to join startup.

So where do I find backend hackers who are passionate about data-mining, information retrieval, hadoop, etc. and are entrepreneurial and want to start a startup? And how shall I get them on the board? Please advice.

[mindcrime]

Just a couple of random thoughts:

Is there a Hadoop User's Group in your area? Or any other Meetup / User's Group on any related topics? Ask there.

Is there a university nearby? Do they have a compsci program? Find a professor who teaches data-mining or information retrieval and ask him/her for leads?

Try the hadoop / weka / mahout / lucene / etc. mailing lists?

You might also post something on Hackers News. ;-) Seriously, how about some info on where you are and exactly what you're looking for. The chances that somebody who posts here will be interested probably aren't half bad.

There are also a couple of sub-reddits you might find it worthwile to checkout, like /r/machinelearning, /r/datamining, /r/hadoop, etc.

Good luck!

[logicalmind]

Agreeing to be a co-founder is a pretty big commitment. Are you sure that the people you've talked to just aren't interested in your idea? The more interesting the idea, the more likely you are to find people. No offense to your idea, just a thought.

[minalecs → logicalmind]

as a programmer entrepreneur.. i have to agree. Theres a few factors why I would join a business guy.

1. You have raised funding before, and have some sort of proven record. You sold a company, or have enough capital.

Thats about it, otherwise.. I'm already working on several ideas myself, and trying to validate things. You could have a great idea, but I'm not signing any NDA, and have probably heard your idea before, and think the ones I can do are better. Even if I do hear your idea, and think its good, more than likely I don't have the knowledge domain, and if I do, I would then possibly consider it only if you can add real value other than the idea.