Ask HN: How do I find my co-founder?

[hireshbrem]

I'm in the UK, currently studying in uni and interested in startups. I would like to know how can I find my cofounder in the UK, everyone seems to be conservative and no one my age wants to aim big.

I have reached out to friends and friends of my friends, and they all say no for various but similar reasons.

Does anyone have any advice for finding a young talented cofounder in the UK?

(Btw if you're young, from the UK and know how to code then let's connect)

[radicalbyte]

You're a kid, you don't have any ties. Your time is cheap now. So just hack, start and dare yourself. The more you code, the more you network, the more mistakes you make now the better. The cost is low and you'll learn very quickly from it.

[chrisa]

Paul Graham gave a talk to college students that covered this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii1jcLg-eIQ

In short: build things you are interested in with people who are also interested in those things. Don't call it a startup at first; just make projects.

[dheera]

Yes, though this is also a privileged view.

Investors don't invest in projects, they invest in businesses.

Without investment, you might not have enough money to pay your next months' rent or your next hospital bill.

If this doesn't apply to you and you can hack at projects without financial concerns, great, but you're already in the privileged group, like PG himself, and disconnected from the reality of 80-90% of people.

[chrisa]

True, though pg was talking to college students here, who are (presumably) mostly focused on classes, and have a stable living situation for 2-4 years until they graduate. That's why he says at the beginning that it's not a good idea to start a _startup_ in college (which will take over your whole life)

If you're 100% focused on your startup and trying to make a living, then it's a different story, I agree.

[dheera]

That I agree, finding your cofounder by doing side projects while already in a stable living situation (college or employed) is a super good move.

[xmlmann]

Keep your rent low. Live with family. Cross a border if needed.

Angels invest in projects.

[dheera]

> Keep your rent low.

Sure but living in Bumblefuck, Arkansas you'll be unlikely to find a good cofounder. Oakland is cheap but you might get shot. Places with BOTH peace of mind and talented people cost money.

> Live with family.

Families are often toxic and unsupportive of doing startups.

> Cross a border if needed.

This however is actually a good suggestion if you go to the right places.

[xmlmann]

Agree with all of that.

2020 happened though. Why do you physically need to meet your cofounder? Maybe make a million then treat yourself to go see them!

[alexissantos]

This, a thousand percent. Whether you are in college or not. Go to where people work on things you're interested in and/or build things in public and spread the word -- eventually, you'll meet people who are like minded in interest and work ethic.

[Brajeshwar]

- Y Combinator has a Co‑Founder Matching https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching

- I've heard lots of success stories with On Deck https://www.beondeck.com

[pcrh]

There's a surprising number of profiles in London on the YC Matching site. Almost as many as in SF or NY. Might be of interest to OP....

[jaggederest]

+1 for YC's cofounder matching, it worked well for me. Be prepared to put in a bunch of leg work but there are a lot of interesting people on there, many more than I expected.

[hireshbrem]

I have tried YC's cofounder matching. Unfortunately, it didn't work well for me.

[smokel]

There is very little information to base a serious reply on. The only thing I understand is that you are studying at a university, and that you want to aim big.

Are you "the brains" looking for a business partner, or are you the business partner looking for engineers? Also, do you have something to bring to the table other than guts?

Depending on answers to these questions, you might be able to find places where your potential partner likes to hang out, and you could visit them there, or present something to make them come to you instead.

[artificialprint]

Start building and you'll connect with like-minded people. Asking almost random people to be cofounders is unlikely to succeed.

[moomoo11]

Don’t waste time searching for a co founder.

Get started, especially if you have a fire to succeed.

In my experience I wasted time trying to find a co founder and either found quitters or people who lack confidence and skills.

Just start by yourself.

Unless you’re working on something extraordinary (beyond saas or some other software company) you shouldn’t waste time looking for a co founder.

IMO.

I’m sure I will be told differently by people with survivorship bias. But take it from me as someone who doesn’t fit into that cookie cutter mold. You can still be successful.

[John23832]

> no one my age wants to aim big

Just a point. Nobody any age really wants to aim big. You'll often have to go at it yourself and in your pursuits make the "big" seem more surmountable. That's when they'll want to tag along.

[convolvatron]

every project falls well short of its goals. if you aim really big, there is a much better chance that there will be something of real value in the parts. a half-baked mvp of a tiny idea is almost always worthless.

[xmlmann]

Dont aim small or big. Aim smart. Do X where if X fails you get upsides Y, Z etc. Bonus points if Y and Z are strategic.

A common manifestation of this is the pivot but there are others.

Dating app or running club? Both may get you a date. One gets you fit and makes you friends if you fail.

Made friends? They introduce you to a date...

[zkirill]

I have always been curious about a different approach. Let's say that I interview you and a few other people, and then match you in a party with someone whose skills and character are complementary to yours. Then I match both of you with an idea that suits your party's combined skill set and also has a chance of making money. You're welcome to pivot and try something else after reasonable time and effort was put in. Everything else is boilerplate like 49/51 equity split and vesting schedule so you can focus on delivering maximum value.

[hireshbrem]

That sounds great but I don't like the idea of you or someone else matching us to a specific idea. I would rather work with my partner on coming across ideas.

[xyst]

Some times you just have to put yourself out there. Network and branch out from your normal people. Develop your idea into an MVP and demo.

Sometimes a co-founder finds you.

[rvba]

A google search can lead you to various services that offer cofounder matching.

One is run by y combinator.

Open questions are: why do you really need a cofounder? Are you some idea guy? The technical people probably dont want to team up with a student that has nothing to show.

If your idea is good, how do you know someone wont steal it?

Can you build your product on your own? Or by hiring someone? That removes a lot of issues later.

[blumomo]

Why not doing it alone? What’s stopping you from coding the product yourself? Is it an option to instead of finding a cofounder you find willing people who help you improving on your coding skills while you build the first prototype yourself? You could always find a CTO later once you’ve proven that your idea is viable?

[curious_curios]

- Reach out to investors in your greater area.

- See if your university has an entrepreneurial program or club.

- Look up uni alumni who have started their own company which has failed and see if they want to do another.

- Apply as an early employee to a startup and start building your network.

- Forgo a co-founder, just do it yourself.

[re-thc]

> everyone seems to be conservative and no one my age wants to aim big.

That's the same everywhere. Media has to find something to share so normal people don't get much attention. Imagine today's news being "just another day".

[hireshbrem]

Yes, you're right that's the same everywhere except the US.

[llamaimperative]

Most people in the US also aren’t starting companies. There’s definitely a huge difference in culture, but I wouldn’t find any excuse in “if I were in the US this wouldn’t be a problem.”

Competence and risk-on is a rare combination everywhere (which is why it can be so highly rewarded).

[andrewstuart]

Learn to code.

The effort will pay off 1,000 times in your lifetime.

It sounds like you have ideas. Having a specific vision in your head of what you want to build is the best way to learn to code because it gives you a clear goal.

[journal]

In the same boat. Reached out to my network and everyone is comfortable in their 9-5 making $100k+. Everyone is either too smart or not smart enough. Maybe this means age of startups is dying?

[hireshbrem]

I don't think they are dying, i just think that the UK culture does not encourage it enough.

You will never hear someone drop out of uni to start a startup in the UK.

I am probably just comparing it to the US, but like why shouldn't you? The UK is a hub for smart people, but I guess not courageous people.

[mattlondon]

Not so much a lack of courage, but I think lack of funding and low tech salaries in UK compared to US.

You can't afford to take the risks on a middling salary, and there are not many investors locally either so you basically bootstrap on meagre savings, and then have no one to sell the idea to anyway.

[Meganet]

And with what idea did you reach out?

[jacknews]

aka your idea/proposition wasn't compelling enough.

[xmlmann]

Slacks, Discords, and other such yacht clubs. Start with

https://www.buildclub.ai/

Even if not intereseted in AI.

[eamag]

Start building by yourself, talk about your work, and you should find similar-minded individuals

[hireshbrem]

Yes, this is what I'm trying to do at the moment. How would you recommend I talk about my work? Like post online?

[t-writescode]

Personally, I just __talk__ about what I'm working on with anyone and everyone I meet or trust, at least in person. I love what I'm working on and it excites me to be creating products :D

[jacknews]

aka no-one believes your spiel

so show them

make something. hook a significant investor. clinch a deal

show them you are business, not just a dreamer

I completely understand tech peoples reluctance to engage with 'genius' business people and their 'revolutionary' genius business ideas.

[yieldcrv]

my cofounder was twice my age, and so was his network

that paid dividends

[Horffupolde]

If you have to ask, it’s not the right option.

[mattlondon]

No offence, but what are you bringing to the deal? I might be wrong but it sounds like you are "the idea guy" and now you "just" need someone to code your idea.

I often get people asking me to "just" build them and app or "just" write them and e-commerce site, or "just" code up a podcast distribution electron app and backend infrastructure with LLM recommendations for windows, Linux, macros, iOS, and android because hey they've done the hard part of thinking up the idea, now they "just" need someone to code it and run it for them and they'll be rich! How hard can that be? Jeez cooooome on! Just code it! Stop being lazy! /s

Most programmers who can pull that sort of thing off will see the complexity and hard work a mile off so the potential of the idea needs to be genuinely and honestly decent (no "like Uber for ..." nonsense)

Building stuff of anything apart from the most trivial things is hard. Going to uni on the UK is one of the most expensive places in the world - people there are already taking huge amounts of debt to come out with a degree which in itself is a big risk as there is no guarantee of a payoff at the end. Anyone smart will be hoping to come out with a good degree with the hopes of getting a well-paying job at the end of it, not pissing it all up the wall.

I'd recommend to knuckle down and concentrate on your studies first. If you don't know how to program yourself, use your spare time to do so and just build stuff and get experience. Launch a few solo-dev things to again experience and get exposure.

Good luck.

[hireshbrem]

Actually I'm may be the idea guy but also the builder. I know how to code. My question may not be very clear but I was asking how can I meet hardcore builders who are interested in startups (rather than high-paid jobs in large companies) in the UK.

Also, I do launch projects of my own all the time, I am trying to understand how the exposure part works.

[Meganet]

The first thing you should ask yourself what is your motivation?

You wanna be an entrepreneur? Just because? Honestly thats just not smart.

You wanna be rich? Unicorn rich? Honestly thats just not going to happen.

I had the itch to do 'something' but i never just wanted to make a business out of that. But i had plenty of ideas or i'm seeing a lot of niches were you could make it as a normal small it company being independent from others.

I only started to become an entrepreneur when i met a friend who had something i could relate to, a good business idea in a good niche with the potential to make it in a sense of i will be able to pay myself a 6 figure salary while already making a 6 figure salary.

There is a small chance that i might get a little bit more out of that company than a self managed stable job with a good salary (like 100-400k) but thats it.

Honestly the best bet by far is to try to get into big well paying companies like Google etc.

You are at an uni right? Go to hackathons, go to startup meetups, go to accelerators, make sure to be good in something. But pls don't just want to become an entrepreneur just for the sake of becoming a entrepreneur.

[hireshbrem]

Sure, I can do that.