When looking for projects, what are the most important factors?<p>I'm interested in building a cofounding matching platform that focuses on the interests of the technical cofounder.
1. Some form of "moat". Do you have expertise, whether as a user or product? Some claim they can "execute" but the average assistant manager at a gas station can execute too. Pitching takes an hour to learn, and only requires time & practice to master. But there are some who can execute and pitch extraordinarily well, and that's valuable.<p>2. Willingness to put in the work. Vast majority seek passive income, and are dead weight after launching.<p>3. A conscience. No cults. No lying to investors. None of this "fake it before you make it" crap. Negotiation is fine, but not to the point of demoralising your partners and employees.<p>4. Humility. I was pretty eager to work with one guy, until he argued that my tech stack was stupid because we'd have to pay licensing fees to Oracle if we used JavaScript.<p>5. Trust. Many have done a fairly successful business before, and bring in cultures that really don't work with tech talent. If you're negotiating sick days and expecting people to be in office for a fixed period, everyone will leave. One guy hired a supervisor whose role is to watch the devs code.<p>6. Sales skill. Not just getting leads. Not just running ads. Just being able to close a deal, take money, repeat the process, get feedback, and hire someone to repeat that.
For a "nontechnical" co-founder to have some actual domain knowledge that lets them understand a customer problem, gained through real experience. Not just someone businessy who wants to make a startup. So being able to attract and vet cofounders with real complementary experience.
* Decent human beings, not asshole tech bros<p>* A cogent vision that addresses a real customer need<p>* Someone (senior) on the team who knows the domain<p>* A reasonable real-currency salary<p>* A reasonable equity share<p>* A reasonable level of autonomy; not micro-management, especially for technology choices<p>* Transparency in all things, but especially finances, board, investors, and deals
I’ve spent a good amount of time on YC’s cofounder matching service and my biggest problem is not anything that can be fixed by a better platform. Most the “ideas” for products are dystopian, moral-less get-rich-quick schemes that I’d have to abandon any semblance of ethics to get behind. Web3 especially has brought out the “music men” of the world and given them a platform. Fuck this “do anything for a buck” world we’ve built.
Not a technical cofounder, but I have read too many weeping in the /newest page:<p>* Not zero salary in cash (not IOU, not cryptocoins, not equity, real green cash)<p>* At least 20% of equity. (YC uses 10% instead, and they know more than me, so you probably should follow their threshold.)
As someone who as been pitched a lot to be tech-cofounder this is what I was looking for:<p>1- Talking is easy. Show me what have you built. Business plan, market research, list of potential investors.<p>2- Long term vision. I've been always reluctant to work with people whose goals are 6-12 months.<p>3- If you are not a leader, know that.
Even if they're non-technical I value a technical approach to problem solving.<p>I've always liked the idea that if they didn't have a technical cofounder they might still be able to hack together an MVP using tools like Bubble, Zapier, Airbase, Sheets, etc.
I tried starting projects with several people already and I will not do it again unless they have previous experience of starting a business and getting it beyond idea phase.