19 ms·

Show HN: FoundersList – Looking for a cofounder or a new startup to work on?

synchronizing 6y ago
Interesting idea with likely unwanted consequences. Browsed it for 10 minutes and it seems the vast majority of posts are "looking for technical co-founder to program my idea."
- snambi 6y ago
  Yep, its hard to find technical folks who can build things, especially someone else's ideas.
- ChefboyOG 6y ago
  My advice to people looking for a "technical cofounder" is always to learn to code—and not in a snarky, "learn to build it yourself" way. Having even a cursory ability to code and a CS50 level understanding of computers will give you enough context to vet the plausibility of ideas, and give you the ability to articulate them in terms that might interest an engineer, as opposed to just saying "An app for investing in real estate."
  - asdf21 6y ago
    I spent years doing this, but I would still need / want a technical co-founder for my ideas. Now I'm a technical manager who can code pretty well, but that's not really all that helpful to launch something legit and complex.
    - gwbas1c 6y ago
      >> My advice to people looking for a "technical cofounder" is always to learn to code—and not in a snarky, "learn to build it yourself" way. > I spent years doing this, but I would still need / want a technical co-founder for my ideas There's two reasons why a non-technical founder should learn to code: 1: To get past the "computers can read minds" trap, and to have a high level understanding of what's going on under the hood. (Elon Musk knows an awful lot about how his cars work.) 2: For the same reason CTOs need to understand topics like product-market fit.
- generalpass 6y ago
  Similarly: Cofounders looking for salesperson to work for commission only.
  - gnicholas 6y ago
    I think this idea actually has a better chance of working, for a couple reasons: • There is less risk in starting the relationship. You're not divvying up shares in a company or even paying a fixed salary. The only thing you stand to lose is the time spent figuring out the comp structure • Founders don't have to open up quite as much about the business, and worry that their idea will be stolen/copied. This is partly because founders seeking salespeople will be further along (alpha version or later), and partly because there's less of a fear that a salesperson will start a copycat company than an engineer (because of skills, not intrinsic honesty).
    - generalpass 6y ago
      > I think this idea actually has a better chance of working, for a couple reasons: > • There is less risk in starting the relationship. You're not divvying up shares in a company or even paying a fixed salary. The only thing you stand to lose is the time spent figuring out the comp structure > • Founders don't have to open up quite as much about the business, and worry that their idea will be stolen/copied. This is partly because founders seeking salespeople will be further along (alpha version or later), and partly because there's less of a fear that a salesperson will start a copycat company than an engineer (because of skills, not intrinsic honesty). For a salesperson you want to work with, they are making minimum $15k per month. Why are they even going to talk to you when you aren't offering equity or money? Do you think that cold-calling is fun-time?
      - gnicholas 6y ago
        It's not about cold-calling, it's about monetizing your network. If you have experience and contacts in an industry, and a startup offers you 30% commission on the revenue you bring in, it could be worth the time to see if you can make valuable connections for them. This is especially true if you're not tied to a full-time schedule with them — you could literally do this while still working another job.
- mLuby 6y ago
  Look at no-code platforms if you must, but probably you can launch your business with just a website (not app) and an email address.
- folkhack 6y ago
  Yep - those who can build this stuff don't devalue yourself even in these weird times... Truth is you're going to make WAY more money in the long run by consulting your services out building these platforms vs. taking ownership in a company that may never make it. Payment up-front vs. percentage ownership in an entity that doesn't yet exist is almost always the better option. Why? Here's the hard truth - 90% of these won't EVER see profit, and you'll likely sink a TON of time (and potentially money) into something that doesn't necessarily ever pay out vs. scratching the "I'm an entrepreneur!" itch. Doesn't stop fools like myself from circling back to the startup arena though ever few years after refilling the coffers, but it's only healthy to look at this stuff as "gambling" or "fishing" vs. having any real expectations for success. That all being said - risk is the only way we grow!
gatkinso 6y ago
Founder seeking co-founder to found founding funding finder for other Founders. Have found several other promising Founders but still have not found what I'm trying to find.
- gwbas1c 6y ago
  There it is: https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/8 https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/8
- dominotw 6y ago
  thats pretty clever :)
- quickthrower2 6y ago
  Buffalo buffalo buffalo.
  - david_w 6y ago
    Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. Bisons hailng from Buffalo, N.Y. confuse confound and befuddle more of their own kind.
    - quickthrower2 6y ago
      Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo. Those bullied N.Y. buffalo take their rage out on the general buffalo population. Did you set me up for that? :-)
      - david_w 6y ago
        Not parsing it quickthrower2. I get two possible parses: Bisons (Buffalo) bewilder (buffalo) Buffalo bisons (Buffalo bisons) confuse (buffalo) annoy (buffalo) and vexate (buffalo) other bisons (buffalo). But that is not grammatical. Neither is my second parse: Bisons from Buffalo (Buffalo buffalo) Bisons from Buffalo (Buffalo buffalo) confuse (buffalo) and vexate (buffalo) other bisons (buffalo). Am I missing it? You can do this: Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. Which is like my first post except each alternative definition of buffalo (confuse, annoy, vexate) is included using the word buffalo in its stead. But that's just gratuitous.
Taek 6y ago
Question for HN: I cannot imagine starting a company with a stranger. There are so many intense moments, points of extreme trust, and ways for things to go wrong, so much passion, and so much blending of self and company, that I wouldn't ever feel comfortable embarking with someone that I didn't know incredibly well as a cofounder. Are there reasons to believe that starting with a stranger as a cofounder will generally work out well if you can pick the stranger carefully?
- tmpz22 6y ago
  Devils advocate, Tinder ends with plenty of long term relationships. Ultimately much of founderdom is a crap shoot because you never know what your partner will turn into three years from now with money on the table. Truly obvious good founders who have lots of experience or proven connections are few and far between such that for the average startup rolling the dice may be just as effective as picking your best friend.
  - gnicholas 6y ago
    > Tinder ends with plenty of long term relationships Sure, and some people go there looking for that. Most go there looking for short term enjoyment and possible long term relationships. That doesn't map onto the cofounder search. There is not much value in having the equivalent of "a couple dates" with at potential cofounder. And some people would actually see it as a negative, if they're worried (rightly or wrongfully) about their idea being stolen.
  - eloff 6y ago
    This is more like if you married the first person who agreed to go out with you on tinder. Which is probably a petty lousy idea. I don't see how starting a company with a stranger is going to have better results. There will always be exceptions, but it seems like a bad idea.
    - lukifer 6y ago
      I don't think the idea is to pick someone at random; it's more like speed dating, where you check for initial chemistry and aligned interests, and then decide if you want to take it further. Maybe you even do some due diligence and check references. You're perhaps incurring more risk, compared to a friend/colleague you've known for 10 years; but then, there may also be a reward in connecting with a talented mind who you wouldn't've otherwise. (And it's not as though startups with close friends can't also go south in very ugly ways.)
briggsly 6y ago
This feels more PlentyofFish rather than Tinder. Is there more of a tinder version? Just dump two people into a shared video chat and pair programming session to just start building something with someone? Not code-roulette, but paired like founders list here. Just less reading and more connecting. Or a shared repl, Jupyter notebook, or Google doc/sheet/slides for collab. Anything closer to something like that exist?
- wegymoo 6y ago
  theres shapr https://shapr.co/ https://shapr.co/ which is sort of similar to what your describing (the tinder part not the code notebooks)
werber 6y ago
Does anyone know of something similar for matching technical people with non profits? I’m suddenly filled with free time and want to find a non profit with short term technical needs. Ideally looking to help lgbtq organizations if that helps
- Normal_gaussian 6y ago
  Your best bet is to draw up a list of 30 (at least) organisations that you are willing to help. Draw up a list of at least 10 "specific" examples of ways you can help. Email those organisations with a brief introduction explaining who you are, that you have found yourself available, you specifically want to help organisations like theirs [because X], and that you are willing to help in the following ways [...]. You'll get one or two back in the timeframe you are available for that have actually had your message read by someone both senior and knowledgable enough to work out how they can make use of you.
- artur_makly 6y ago
  Checkout https://Catchafire.org https://Catchafire.org it has an extensive directory of NGOs that which you filter by various criteria. I had the privilege to lead all product UX and UI on this new version. happy to do the same again for the right startup. just DM me.
  - mattmanser 6y ago
    Getting Https error on the site.
    - artur_makly 6y ago
      apologies...http://catchafire.org/ http://catchafire.org/
- kristopolous 6y ago
  At least before its acquisition, grindr had its hand in a bunch of non-profit tech stuff. I don't know if they consolidated it to a specific website. The times I ran into them, they were focused on homeless lgbt (they thought some app would help) and other kinds of public health initiatives involving racism, transphobia, safe spaces, all that ... don't assume the attitude of the users on the platform reflect that of the company, they seemed to be pretty upstanding. [1] It looked like they had an extensive network. You could probably reach out to them over a general email address ... --- [1] this isn't uncommon. LA Weekly and Village Voice used to do good, well financed local journalism but most of the funding came from backpage, a site where sex workers advertised. Browsing for a night a thrills financed reporters covering city council meetings, really.
darekkay 6y ago
Something similar [1] (but rather for side projects) was posted here on HN a few days ago. [1] https://redsand.io/ https://redsand.io/
lend000 6y ago
If you are fortunate enough to have some capital in this crisis, what better opportunity will you have in your life to start a company? A significant amount of incumbents (a.k.a. your competition) will be wiped out or have reduced market share when the economy starts back up, and there will be unique challenges and opportunities in the post-covid world.
davedx 6y ago
Well I think this is great, and some of the posts are from startups that actually have a MVP already built, with founders who have decent credentials. There's also some fun moonshots in there like this one: https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/80 https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/80 If you're in SF or already part of the startup/VC community this website probably isn't for you. But for thousands of entrepreneurial minded, experienced people who just need a partner, this is a great resource. (Of course caveats apply! But don't they always? If you're joining/founding a startup nobody will do your due diligence but you!) Thanks for posting, and I will be going through some of the posts with great interest.

Interesting idea with likely unwanted consequences. Browsed it for 10 minutes and it seems the vast majority of posts are "looking for technical co-founder to program my idea."

snambi 6y ago
Yep, its hard to find technical folks who can build things, especially someone else's ideas.
ChefboyOG 6y ago
My advice to people looking for a "technical cofounder" is always to learn to code—and not in a snarky, "learn to build it yourself" way. Having even a cursory ability to code and a CS50 level understanding of computers will give you enough context to vet the plausibility of ideas, and give you the ability to articulate them in terms that might interest an engineer, as opposed to just saying "An app for investing in real estate."
- asdf21 6y ago
  I spent years doing this, but I would still need / want a technical co-founder for my ideas. Now I'm a technical manager who can code pretty well, but that's not really all that helpful to launch something legit and complex.
  - gwbas1c 6y ago
    >> My advice to people looking for a "technical cofounder" is always to learn to code—and not in a snarky, "learn to build it yourself" way. > I spent years doing this, but I would still need / want a technical co-founder for my ideas There's two reasons why a non-technical founder should learn to code: 1: To get past the "computers can read minds" trap, and to have a high level understanding of what's going on under the hood. (Elon Musk knows an awful lot about how his cars work.) 2: For the same reason CTOs need to understand topics like product-market fit.
generalpass 6y ago
Similarly: Cofounders looking for salesperson to work for commission only.
- gnicholas 6y ago
  I think this idea actually has a better chance of working, for a couple reasons: • There is less risk in starting the relationship. You're not divvying up shares in a company or even paying a fixed salary. The only thing you stand to lose is the time spent figuring out the comp structure • Founders don't have to open up quite as much about the business, and worry that their idea will be stolen/copied. This is partly because founders seeking salespeople will be further along (alpha version or later), and partly because there's less of a fear that a salesperson will start a copycat company than an engineer (because of skills, not intrinsic honesty).
  - generalpass 6y ago
    > I think this idea actually has a better chance of working, for a couple reasons: > • There is less risk in starting the relationship. You're not divvying up shares in a company or even paying a fixed salary. The only thing you stand to lose is the time spent figuring out the comp structure > • Founders don't have to open up quite as much about the business, and worry that their idea will be stolen/copied. This is partly because founders seeking salespeople will be further along (alpha version or later), and partly because there's less of a fear that a salesperson will start a copycat company than an engineer (because of skills, not intrinsic honesty). For a salesperson you want to work with, they are making minimum $15k per month. Why are they even going to talk to you when you aren't offering equity or money? Do you think that cold-calling is fun-time?
    - gnicholas 6y ago
      It's not about cold-calling, it's about monetizing your network. If you have experience and contacts in an industry, and a startup offers you 30% commission on the revenue you bring in, it could be worth the time to see if you can make valuable connections for them. This is especially true if you're not tied to a full-time schedule with them — you could literally do this while still working another job.
mLuby 6y ago
Look at no-code platforms if you must, but probably you can launch your business with just a website (not app) and an email address.
folkhack 6y ago
Yep - those who can build this stuff don't devalue yourself even in these weird times... Truth is you're going to make WAY more money in the long run by consulting your services out building these platforms vs. taking ownership in a company that may never make it. Payment up-front vs. percentage ownership in an entity that doesn't yet exist is almost always the better option. Why? Here's the hard truth - 90% of these won't EVER see profit, and you'll likely sink a TON of time (and potentially money) into something that doesn't necessarily ever pay out vs. scratching the "I'm an entrepreneur!" itch. Doesn't stop fools like myself from circling back to the startup arena though ever few years after refilling the coffers, but it's only healthy to look at this stuff as "gambling" or "fishing" vs. having any real expectations for success. That all being said - risk is the only way we grow!

gatkinso 6y ago

Founder seeking co-founder to found founding funding finder for other Founders. Have found several other promising Founders but still have not found what I'm trying to find.

gwbas1c 6y ago
There it is: https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/8 https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/8
dominotw 6y ago
thats pretty clever :)
quickthrower2 6y ago
Buffalo buffalo buffalo.
- david_w 6y ago
  Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. Bisons hailng from Buffalo, N.Y. confuse confound and befuddle more of their own kind.
  - quickthrower2 6y ago
    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo. Those bullied N.Y. buffalo take their rage out on the general buffalo population. Did you set me up for that? :-)
    - david_w 6y ago
      Not parsing it quickthrower2. I get two possible parses: Bisons (Buffalo) bewilder (buffalo) Buffalo bisons (Buffalo bisons) confuse (buffalo) annoy (buffalo) and vexate (buffalo) other bisons (buffalo). But that is not grammatical. Neither is my second parse: Bisons from Buffalo (Buffalo buffalo) Bisons from Buffalo (Buffalo buffalo) confuse (buffalo) and vexate (buffalo) other bisons (buffalo). Am I missing it? You can do this: Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. Which is like my first post except each alternative definition of buffalo (confuse, annoy, vexate) is included using the word buffalo in its stead. But that's just gratuitous.

Taek 6y ago

Question for HN: I cannot imagine starting a company with a stranger. There are so many intense moments, points of extreme trust, and ways for things to go wrong, so much passion, and so much blending of self and company, that I wouldn't ever feel comfortable embarking with someone that I didn't know incredibly well as a cofounder. Are there reasons to believe that starting with a stranger as a cofounder will generally work out well if you can pick the stranger carefully?

tmpz22 6y ago
Devils advocate, Tinder ends with plenty of long term relationships. Ultimately much of founderdom is a crap shoot because you never know what your partner will turn into three years from now with money on the table. Truly obvious good founders who have lots of experience or proven connections are few and far between such that for the average startup rolling the dice may be just as effective as picking your best friend.
- gnicholas 6y ago
  > Tinder ends with plenty of long term relationships Sure, and some people go there looking for that. Most go there looking for short term enjoyment and possible long term relationships. That doesn't map onto the cofounder search. There is not much value in having the equivalent of "a couple dates" with at potential cofounder. And some people would actually see it as a negative, if they're worried (rightly or wrongfully) about their idea being stolen.
- eloff 6y ago
  This is more like if you married the first person who agreed to go out with you on tinder. Which is probably a petty lousy idea. I don't see how starting a company with a stranger is going to have better results. There will always be exceptions, but it seems like a bad idea.
  - lukifer 6y ago
    I don't think the idea is to pick someone at random; it's more like speed dating, where you check for initial chemistry and aligned interests, and then decide if you want to take it further. Maybe you even do some due diligence and check references. You're perhaps incurring more risk, compared to a friend/colleague you've known for 10 years; but then, there may also be a reward in connecting with a talented mind who you wouldn't've otherwise. (And it's not as though startups with close friends can't also go south in very ugly ways.)

briggsly 6y ago

This feels more PlentyofFish rather than Tinder. Is there more of a tinder version? Just dump two people into a shared video chat and pair programming session to just start building something with someone? Not code-roulette, but paired like founders list here. Just less reading and more connecting. Or a shared repl, Jupyter notebook, or Google doc/sheet/slides for collab. Anything closer to something like that exist?

wegymoo 6y ago
theres shapr https://shapr.co/ https://shapr.co/ which is sort of similar to what your describing (the tinder part not the code notebooks)

werber 6y ago

Does anyone know of something similar for matching technical people with non profits? I’m suddenly filled with free time and want to find a non profit with short term technical needs. Ideally looking to help lgbtq organizations if that helps

Normal_gaussian 6y ago
Your best bet is to draw up a list of 30 (at least) organisations that you are willing to help. Draw up a list of at least 10 "specific" examples of ways you can help. Email those organisations with a brief introduction explaining who you are, that you have found yourself available, you specifically want to help organisations like theirs [because X], and that you are willing to help in the following ways [...]. You'll get one or two back in the timeframe you are available for that have actually had your message read by someone both senior and knowledgable enough to work out how they can make use of you.
artur_makly 6y ago
Checkout https://Catchafire.org https://Catchafire.org it has an extensive directory of NGOs that which you filter by various criteria. I had the privilege to lead all product UX and UI on this new version. happy to do the same again for the right startup. just DM me.
- mattmanser 6y ago
  Getting Https error on the site.
  - artur_makly 6y ago
    apologies...http://catchafire.org/ http://catchafire.org/
kristopolous 6y ago
At least before its acquisition, grindr had its hand in a bunch of non-profit tech stuff. I don't know if they consolidated it to a specific website. The times I ran into them, they were focused on homeless lgbt (they thought some app would help) and other kinds of public health initiatives involving racism, transphobia, safe spaces, all that ... don't assume the attitude of the users on the platform reflect that of the company, they seemed to be pretty upstanding. [1] It looked like they had an extensive network. You could probably reach out to them over a general email address ... --- [1] this isn't uncommon. LA Weekly and Village Voice used to do good, well financed local journalism but most of the funding came from backpage, a site where sex workers advertised. Browsing for a night a thrills financed reporters covering city council meetings, really.

darekkay 6y ago

Something similar [1] (but rather for side projects) was posted here on HN a few days ago. [1] https://redsand.io/ https://redsand.io/

lend000 6y ago

If you are fortunate enough to have some capital in this crisis, what better opportunity will you have in your life to start a company? A significant amount of incumbents (a.k.a. your competition) will be wiped out or have reduced market share when the economy starts back up, and there will be unique challenges and opportunities in the post-covid world.

davedx 6y ago

Well I think this is great, and some of the posts are from startups that actually have a MVP already built, with founders who have decent credentials. There's also some fun moonshots in there like this one: https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/80 https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/80 If you're in SF or already part of the startup/VC community this website probably isn't for you. But for thousands of entrepreneurial minded, experienced people who just need a partner, this is a great resource. (Of course caveats apply! But don't they always? If you're joining/founding a startup nobody will do your due diligence but you!) Thanks for posting, and I will be going through some of the posts with great interest.