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by jules 4028 days ago
The real question here is what you bring to the table in an early stage startup. You can put yourself around the type of people you need to meet, but at the end of the day they are not going to be your co-founder unless you bring something to the table. Why do they absolutely need you in order to succeed? Maybe:

- You are a sales or marketing wizard

- You have domain specific knowledge and experience

- You have critical connections

- You have funding

You probably need several of these to be an attractive co-founder. Another way of saying it is: what will you be working on every day that will cause the startup to succeed? The technical co-founder is going to work on building the product every day. Without that you can't succeed. Why does he need you to succeed? That is what you need to communicate to potential co-founders.

If you have a good way to convince potential co-founders that they need you, then how to find them? It could be that you are successful with founder dating programs but starting a startup is a huge commitment. Do you really want to do that with a stranger? I think it makes a lot more sense to do it with a college friend or a former colleague.