Ask HN: How to find a non-technical co-founder?

[davethomas]

I'm a web developer interested in forming a startup in the near future. I'd like to start networking with people who are skilled in business and are interested in forming a startup. How should I go about doing that?

Should I seek out business-oriented events? What about MBA programs? Ideally I want to connect with someone first, then develop a business collaboratively with them: I don't want a "Whartonite Seeks Code Monkey" sort of relationship.

[mchannon]

I had this exact same problem.

In the end, it required networking with real people and real face-to-face meetings. And it required travel to, and throughout, the bay area.

Nontechnical cofounders are far less common than everyone seems to think. Out of the hundreds of people I met that week, only a few nibbles and a couple of bites.

The sad fact is that cofounders in general are quite scarce, and just like most developers aren't comfortable in the startup space, most bizdev people aren't either.

Look hard, have a great value proposition, and a clear and demonstrable niche for the right person to fill. And then, just be lucky. I dare say that a good bizdev cofounder is an order of magnitude scarcer than a good technical cofounder, based on recent personal experience.

[davethomas → mchannon]

It sounds like you had a specific pitch that you gave. Do you think that people would be more willing to join as a co-founder if they had some input on the original idea?

[mchannon → davethomas]

I did have a specific pitch.

You want input on your idea if you're looking for a cofounder as opposed to an employee.

The biggest barrier to getting cofounders, be they technical or bizdev, is the propensity for people to have ideas first and business partners second. Two people with two different ideas are really hard to fold together because it often requires a destruction of value proposition- someone's going to have to shelve their idea in order to join together on one.

Unless you're convinced that your idea is the greatest thing ever, you may actually be better served by going in pluripotent- eager to pitch yourself and your skills but not to pitch your idea. If things don't work out you still have your idea, and if they do, maybe your idea can get folded in.

[sherm8n]

You'll find a lot of biz dudes looking for someone like you. Be wary of anyone who says they just need a developer to build their app. It has to be a true partnership. They have to understand and respect the amount of work involved in building a product. There are some really really good product/biz people out there though.

Why do you feel like you need to partner with purely biz people? Many companies you see here have engineers who can run a business with no problem.

[davethomas → sherm8n]

That goes both ways: I respect the amount of work it takes to make a company financially stable and to strategically position it in the marketplace. It seems to me that the engineers running businesses have been successful only because they picked up business skills along the way, but perhaps it is more efficient to partner with someone who already has those skills.

[kkt262]

This should be easy. If you're technical there are tons of people searching for you.

You don't necessarily have to go to "business-oriented" events. Just go to some startup-oriented events and you'll meet tons of people that could potentially be co-founders.

[Nikkki]

I like the way you think. I'm a business guy. Let's connect. Write me a mail at: sommersnicki at gmail dot com

[yashchandra]

"Whartonite Seeks Code Monkey" Upvote for that!!