[codingdave]

As an experienced developer, who spent the summer exploring options after my last company was sold, I had many approaches from non-technical founders. Most of them completely skipped vetting me, and just were hungry for someone who could code. One I worked with part-time for a few months, with the explicit agreement that it was a test run on small projects to decide if we wanted to move forward together. The last one did interview me, and ended up being my #1 choice to work with because, aside from agreement on the product and how we'd build it, she was clearly thinking about the bigger picture, not just trying to find a coder. (Although the market drove me to take a different full-time job instead, anyway.)

All that to say, another criteria is that if your potential co-founder is too easy to convince to join you, that is a red flag - a good potential founder will have many options on the table. If you are their only option, there is a reason for it, and you should walk away.

[dominotw]

> Most of them completely skipped vetting me, and just were hungry for someone who could code.

How did these people find you?

I am ready to quit my stable job and do something fun for a while. Where do you I find people in the same boat.

[codingdave]

Networking. All of my consulting contracts came from people I already knew, who either hired me directly or introduced me to someone who needed help. And those contacts and clients then introduced me to other people who were looking to found something new. FYI, I found zero value in meetups or other networking events, because the people who are working hard on good ideas are too busy (in general) to attend such things.

[methodover]

What was the source of your network, if I may ask? Old college friends? Church? Co-workers?

[codingdave]

One contract came from a partner of a business I used to code for. The rest were just asking around town, in particular with people who worked in marketing - they knew who needed help growing their business, and would pair me up with business owners who had specific tech problems to solve.

[atomashpolskiy]

Same story here. Quit my job a few weeks ago, and now looking for some fun stuff to do. If I don't find something by myself soon, probably will have to resort to spamming/broadcasting in LinkedIn like the next commenter advised :)

[new299]

> If you are their only option, there is a reason for it, and you should walk away.

Depending on your other options, it still might be interesting. Just know you are walking into a potential trainwreck.