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by edw519 6694 days ago
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4) The guy is cautious because he has been burnt before. Every cofounder he has had has in previous ventures has either: failed to fully commit, failed to perform, reneged on their agreement, suffered personal tragedy, or died.

Just because someone doesn't have a co-founder doesn't mean that it must be 1, 2, or 3. Personally, I'm tired of hearing #1 - I've always thought it was without logic.

And don't forget - it's a lot easier to find co-founders when you're still in school with like minded people with time on their hands. Things get a lot tougher when your peers (if you can find any) have families and mortgages. Not being able to miss a paycheck is a tough hurdle to overcome.

Finding a co-founder is more like getting married than dating. I'd much rather be alone than be with the wrong person. I'll either find the right person or launch alone. In the meantime, I keep working.

If you have a good team, consider yourself very fortunate! You've already completed a hurdle that others struggle with through no fault of their own. So they keep on working and reaching out to groups like this. OP is looking for suggestions, not a diagnosis of what's wrong with him from a stranger.

2 comments

Heh-- I'm not saying that people who don't find co-founders are wrong/stupid/bad.

I am saying that people who don't WANT to find co-founders are generally (IMO) misguided and should reconsider.

FWIW, me and my 38 year old co-founder found our 30 year old co-founder 6 months back. I know how hard it is and how scary it is (we all set aside really lucrative jobs). I agree with you about the marriage analogy.

But, sticking with that analogy-- having bad spouses in your past is a pretty lousy reason to swear off of dating. ;-)

You said it much more elegantly than I could. To add to reasons why it's hard to find a co-founder, it's harder to find a hacker co-founder when you've just started on the path to hackerdom, as is my case.
Yes, I didn't even get that far. This may be the biggest hurdle. Of all the hackers I've ever met, I wouldn't even approach 99%. I've seen their work.

I know 2 rock stars who are local and I've worked with before that I would love to be with now. One is laid up after a horrible motorcycle accident and the other is going through a nasty divorce. Lunch and phone calls, yes. Co-founders, no.

Interestingly enough, I'm corresponding off-line with several people from this board. Who knows, maybe that will lead somewhere.

Willie Sutton robbed banks because "that's where the money is". Do you think if he was a lonely hacker, he'd be here now?