I was curious if there is a way to find about promising founders who are working on a new project/startup that does not have any significant online footprint yet.<p>In this context, for me it is not a "very" early stage startup if I can read about it on AngelList or they have more than just a landing page.<p>There can be many signals for promising founders like their previous jobs or ventures or experience in that domain.<p>I believe it is easier for people who already know these founders as friends or colleagues but for others, not so much.<p>For example - Linear App in 2019 or Vercel in 2015 and such.
I think the bigger question is why you want to find such founders? In most cases, if those founders need anything, they will ask for it/search for it (funding, infrastructure, services, etc.).