[casca]

There have been a lot of these "help me find a technical co-founder" posts. All the ones I've seen have missed the fundamental point: without technology, your idea is worthless. Your technical co-founder is supposed to be doing all the work, sacrificing a quantifiable high-paying job. You're networking and "being authentic". And your contribution to an uncertain venture is "[if] needed, bring cash".

[jarrett]

Agreed. I would add that a potential bizdev cofounder needs to be able to prove they're good at all that stuff, not just say they can do a great job at it. Lots of people who have never done bizdev before tell themselves "I can write blog posts and reach out to journalists and potential customers. It's just communications and people skills." Sure, you probably can do those things, but can you do them well, and I mean really super-duper well? Because that's what a good technical cofounder will fairly expect from a bizdev cofounder.

So, here's a simple recipe for the bizdez person. If you do this, someone like me will be impressed and way more likely to join your startup.

1. Mock up your product in as much detail as possible. You don't need to be a graphic design genius--I know we can figure that part out later. At this stage, it's just about showing how your product will work. Interface sketches, flowcharts, etc. would all be helpful. This shows me you've thought through the details, and on another level, it proves you're willing and able to invest quality time in product development. (I.e. you're not the guy who gets "a great new idea" in the shower, emails it to the programmer, and spends the rest of the day reading blogs.)

2. Show all these design documents to bloggers and potential customers. Get their feedback. Find out how interested they are. Then show me some artifacts from these conversations (emails, etc) to prove you've done it. I'll probably contact the same people afterwords and verify what was said, just to be safe. (Can't be too careful when you're betting several years of your career.)

3. Build a successful blog. Hard? Very much so. But it's great experience, it will serve as a natural advertising platform when the product is ready, and most of all, it shows me you have the aptitude to get and keep people's attention.

4. Most importantly, build trust in the context of a real working relationship. Take on a much smaller project with your potential cofounder. Go out for dinner/drinks frequently. Get to know the person. I would only found a business with a person whom I trust completely. Building that takes time.

[didgeoridoo]

I think mental laziness on the part of the prospective "business" partner has a lot to do with it (speaking from that side of the equation). I've held off actively searching for a tech co-founder until I've run with the idea as far as humanly possible: customer validation, half-assed web mockups, etc. Sure, your results may not be as robust as if you had built a v1.0 product and put it out there for iterative development, but since that isn't an option, stop whining and get creative!

[sachingulaya]

As someone who has been searching on/off for a business cofounder I don't think you're giving enough credit to what a bizdev cofounder can do. I need someone to blog about the product/industry, to start cold calling customers and set up meetings, to write copy, to work on the demo video, to set up ad campaigns, to form the corporation, to help with the UX, etc.

Writing the code has taken up about 40% of my time. The other 60% could have been done by someone with no coding abilities at all. There is more than enough work to go around in a startup.

Oh, and if this sounds like you my email is in the profile.

[hkarthik]

Definitely agree, the problem is that most bizdev founders seem clueless about what their job really needs to entail.

Just as Enterprise Architects often make crappy startup founders because they can't think down to the low level details of hacking, VP level biz dev guys make terrible founders because they can't hustle like a low level sales guy will.

[aspir]

I'm unavailable right now, but when you get an offer for the biz gig, bring them in on a contract basis, and give them a few clear and painful, yet essential, deliverables (meeting with 3 clients, line up a distributor, etc).

That's what my current cofounder did to me. Balked at first, but then I realized that it's not going to get magically easier after the trial. It was the right amount of realistic pressure -- just make sure that it's realistic.

[shareme]

plus on top of that the business side co-founder has establish the start-up in the tech press,etc.

[alain94040]

The main value of a business co-founder is taking care of everything else and bring traction: customers, investors, press... Check slide 9 of http://blog.foundrs.com/2012/02/29/co-founder-issues-slides-...

[SatvikBeri]

The letters of intent idea is the best suggestion I saw in this post. That's about as good as you can get in terms of validating the idea before the product is even made!