[Alex3917]

Close to 10% of all newly weds meet online these days. And while it's still too early to know the long-term success rates, early ethnographic studies seem to find little difference between couples who meet online and those who meet in person.[1]

If it works for marriages, why shouldn't it work for entrepreneurs?

If anything, I would expect meeting people online to work out much better than meeting people in person. In real life, people tend to organize themselves into hierarchies and befriend others in a similar position. Whereas online, people organize themselves into networks. And networks seems to be more efficient than hierarchies at everything from social introductions to constructing identity and reputation.

Yeah, there isn't a lot of theory surrounding meeting people through online networks, and it seems excessively easy to get yourself into some serious trouble. But that's just sort of the nature of entrepreneurship in general, and I suspect that at present there's something of an arbitrage opportunity for those willing to figure these things out for themselves.

[1] C.f. Double Click by Andrea Baker

[pg]

Couples may meet online, but they usually date a while before getting married.

It would be fine if founders initially met online, but I think they'd want to have been in-person friends for several months before starting a company.

[Alex3917]

Seems reasonable to me.