I've sparingly been working on a side project for a while by myself and i've considered teaming up with a technical co-founder, for known positive reasons. In the far past i placed some ads on "co-founder dating" websites for other projects but eventually didn't follow through for several reasons like<p>- trust issues in starting a co-founding relationship with a stranger (though i worked for startups/clients remotely for years)<p>- difficulties in setting criteria for selecting a person<p>Though not vital for my current goal of launching an MVP/proof of concept, I’m thinking about giving co-founder dating another go and wondering if anybody knows of success cases (co-founders that met and eventually launched a minimally successful startup project) ?
That's the wrong question.<p>It sounds like you've already made the decision and want to hear anecdotes that validate your choice, and you'll probably disregard the survivorship bias (explicitly asked for successful examples) and participation bias (hacker news users voluntarily answer).<p>What you should do is look at some numbers -- % of friends vs nonfriends founders that exited successfully, perhaps.<p>After that, I suspect the question you will want to ask instead is "How do I find a good cofounder outside of college?"
I posted a craigslist ad looking for a technical cofounder in 2008. Found a guy, started a company, sold it for a few million five years later, and are working on our second company together. We’re not AirBnB huge, but our collaborations have exceeded all my expectations. It happens!
I've done a few startups, one successful, many failed.<p>The one successful startup was with someone I met online. I bought his book, he added me on Facebook. We trolled each other a lot and became friends. When I asked him to join as a cofounder, it was the second time I met him in person.<p>On the other hand, the biggest failure was something I did with a former best friend and roommate. He was a true hustler, but his approach was very different to mine. He would lie, cheat, and outright refuse to pay partners.<p>One startup also failed, with a person I knew for years, but not very well. It was a good idea, very solid market. But startups are mentally exhausting and neither of us could push hard enough.<p>I think the key is really whether you would trust this person. Would you hang out and talk with them for no reason? Would you add them on Facebook? It's a major red flag if you don't.<p>Basically, would you marry this person? Because that is what a startup really is like. You literally share the same hotel room at times. Sometimes the office is the hotel room. You have to be that comfortable with them.<p>And you have to make sacrifices. You're sacrificing years of your career for the dreams of this person. You might be sacrificing your relationships with others. I know a person who never saw his newborn son until the baby died, because he was busy with his startup.<p>It doesn't really matter if you know them for years or days. What really matters is that you're willing to put everything aside and commit to them.
Asking for successful examples is not inherently flawed. Ideally, you would want some idea of what they did right and why it worked. Good examples of what work can be very helpful, if you have some idea of why they worked.<p>It might also help to get stories of failures and why they failed. I will give you mine.<p>I met someone online who wanted me to partner with them on a business. I was interested, but later learned that what they wanted from me was illegal. At that point, I bowed out.<p>A not for profit project that I worked on turned sour for me and I bailed. Looking back on it, I concluded the founder was looking for a step and fetch to provide the time and energy for the project they could not spare while also working full time and raising a family.<p>If you just want a step and fetch, don't pretend they are a partner. Pay someone to do menial tasks that you simply don't have time for.<p>Make sure there is something in it for them. Both of the above examples were looking out for their interests. Neither really thought about my side of things. Screwing someone over is not a means to lay the foundations for trust and a long term partnership.
I am in your situation. I've been working on a MVP and I'm close to release this software.<p>But I met an investor, interested to invest, who asked me if I have a team or any plans. So they expect us to have a team. I'm the kind of freedom guy, thats why Im in business, dont want a boss, not going for the money.<p>But there is a problem with success. I fear that if it will be successful, I'll have to partner with a CTO as I'm not the stronger tech guy. And I will not have time to do everything myself.<p>What I thought about is to contact people I read on the internet, anywhere on the internet. Its likely that they have a job but you never know. If they have time to write on the internet maybe they are not that busy. And I identified someone that I would like to partner with if needed.<p>This idea with dating a co-founder would be very useful. Even if you dont find or need a co-founder, just to meet like minded people is good. I'm happy I answered you because I understand you.
We started a company around Apache CouchDB, and later merged with a company build around memcached. Both of these open source communities gelled online in mailing lists and IRC. It's not quite your story but open source offers many examples of founders meeting online.
Are you in Portugal/Lisbon? I’ve successfully launched one company and helped people start a few others. And I know plenty of entrepreneurially-minded engineers. Happy to grab coffee and see if I can help in meatspace. Feel free to email me: zemvpferreira at gmail
Me (Gaurav Gupta) and my co-founder on Hackr.io (Saurabh Hooda) met online and we started work in a client/vendor relationship on Lenro.co, Saurabh's original startup. I was running SquareBoat (an app/web development company based in New Delhi) and Saurabh contacted me to build Lenro.co for him.<p>Two years later, Saurabh decided to close it down but we had by then seen each other's style of working. So for our next startup, we just decided to do it together as co-founders.<p>Hackr.io is doing well and remains as one of the All-Time Top 50 Hunts on Product Hunt till date.
My co-founder sent me an email and asked if he could help me with my side-project (which helped volunteers to coordinate themselves during the flood 2013). We work together for 5 years now. Best guy ever.
What do you define as minimally successful?<p>My co-founder and I met through Angellist. We've launched a product and have double digits of customers. And revenue!
I think you'll find that in the cases when it worked, the people involved were in the same city or otherwise able to work together physically at least part of the time. I feel it's the only way to build a relationship.
Many YC founders have met online on a programming forum started by one of the really early Facebook employees. It's a great way to meet someone you can work with.
how do you both come to a decision on something?<p>have they demonstrated they can commit to a project in the past?<p>do they're strengths align with your weaknesses?<p>are they interested in the project?