How to choose a co-founder

During the past months I have noticed that many startups are looking for partners on Hacker News , or through personal blogs. In my opinion, this is, at best, not the most effective way to search, and at worst - a way to find the wrong person. In any case, this is a very naive way of finding the person with whom you may have to work for several years.


Understand me correctly, I see nothing wrong with looking for partners on the Internet. The wider the net, the better. But the Internet has limitations. With some people, for example, it is very interesting to communicate online, but in real life they can be shy and boring people. Also, there are people who speak out sharply and harshly on the Internet, but are friendly and attentive in personal communication. Therefore, to understand what kind of person, communicating only on the Internet, it is impossible.

It is much easier to search the Internet for people interested. Look at user groups of your favorite programming language or technology. The mere fact that people take the time to personally discuss things that are interesting to them means that they have higher motivation than others. Even if trips to such user groups take time, try to participate in them. Prepare presentations on topics that interest you. Especially good if they will overlap with the direction of development of your startup. Do not worry about the fact that someone will know your "innermost" secrets, openness in such cases almost does not harm anyone. Communicate. Choose the topic of conversation that interests you, pay attention to the people who show the greatest interest.
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It may take weeks and months, but there will be a few people in a good group that you will be really comfortable working with. If possible, offer them an informal meeting over a glass of beer. This is the easiest way to move from a "cap" acquaintance to a more direct one, which allows you to share the most crazy ideas.

Among the people found, some will seem to be excellent candidates. Learn more about them. What does their code look like? Are they involved in the development of open source? Do they have an entrepreneurial spirit? Can they work on the same project for a long time? How loyal are they to their colleagues and employers? A good co-founder is one whose cooperation with you is valuable to you. Accordingly, he (or she) should feel the same way. Both of you should feel confident enough in life before starting your start-up adventures, since as soon as you get to work, the influence of each decision increases in order.

It seems that all this requires a lot of work. This may suggest that you can do everything yourself. I did the same with the Gravatar project and now, looking back, I understand how many stupid mistakes I have made. When you do something yourself, in the implementation, as a rule, comes what comes to mind in the first place. We are programmed to think that our thoughts and decisions are the most correct, but in reality this is not quite so. Truly good decisions are born in a dispute, rather than being cherished and cherished in someone's head. A good co-founder will note the inconsistency and incompleteness of ideas and will follow the implementation if the ideas are good.

Another problem in solo development is lack of motivation. Solipsist sentiment may help to feel the importance of the case at the initial stage, but the lack of comments and support during a tense period can lead to the fact that the matter suddenly stops. The co-founders are somewhat similar to colleagues in the gym. When you feel that this is the latest approach, they are right there and lead you to a new record.

The choice of co-founder in a startup determines almost everything. Any victory, any defeat - now common. It will help rethink your ideas. This will be your first and most important decision, so take this as seriously as possible.