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Ask HN: How to find a woman technical co-founder?
My partner is brilliant woman who’s taken an MVP pretty far. She’s looking for a woman co-founder because it’s a platform primarily targeted a women and wants the synergy/empathy that comes with that. She tried co-founder matching but to little success, does anyone have any ideas???
- giantg2 5y agoSounds a little sexist, maybe with good intentions. Maybe it's time to look for the best qualified candidate regardless of sex? Edit: Why downvote? Isn't this the same logic touted by equality organizations?
- AltonWells 5y agoThat’s a fair question. If she can find a male who is interested in building a woman’s wellness platform for women then I know she would go for it. However, there are some gender bias barriers she’s faced when sharing her idea and it doesn’t always “click” with men.
- giantg2 5y agoThat makes sense. I would hope that most people who it doesn't click with just wouldn't apply. Maybe post on forums or reddit subs that are pertainate to women's wellness. That's the niche - not the technology side. So you should be able to find individuals on those pages who also have the technical skills. It's more like finding a needle in a haystack looking in the technology forums for any resources who are passionate about a non-technology specific niche.
- egfx 5y agoI’d like to hear the idea. What’s the overview?
- AltonWells 5y agoBut personalized meal kits and fitness routines adjusted to fit your life, weekly.
- jimmyvalmer 5y agoThe "best qualified candidate" is not generally an objective measure -- if you can be more productive with someone your own gender and race, then that's all to the good, the largely American taboo of racial and gender sorting notwithstanding.
- giantg2 5y agoNot just taboo, but laws against discrimination.
- CheezeIt 5y agoNot when searching for a business partner.
- giantg2 5y agoDoesn't that depend on what stage you're in and how you are bringing them in? Like I'd you already have a company set up and you are going to hire them as an employee without sufficient interest, then it does apply. If you're not giving them sufficient interest in the company (10%?), or it hasn't been formed yet, then I think it doesn't.
- CheezeIt 5y agoThere are also minimum employee sizes before racial discrimination law kicks in, I think 15, or 5 if you’re in California, but that is from rapid googling.
- FranksTV 5y agoThere are a million reasons why women prefer to work with women. Also with women being systematically excluded from many opportunities in tech, this is hardly going to deprive some man of an opportunity.
- giantg2 5y ago"Also with women being systematically excluded from many opportunities in tech" Do you have some sources for this? "There are a million reasons why women prefer to work with women." And the same is true for men wanting to work with men. "this is hardly going to deprive some man of an opportunity." If one is actually excluding men, then this by definition deprives them of that specific opportunity.
- softwaredoug 5y agoIs there someone from the customer base that really believes in the startups mission she could hire? Someone that's really technical?
- AltonWells 5y agoIt’s consumer facing so highly unlikely :/
- softwaredoug 5y agoAh what about investors? Are there current investors/plans to approach investors? They can be a great resource with their own extensive networks.
- AltonWells 5y agoYeah that’s the next step is to start working investor networks!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ipaddr 5y agoWhat is the story of pretty far? Did she find market fit and needs to scale? What kind of challenges is she facing?
- AltonWells 5y agoShe’s found a bit of traction. Ads convert to customers but the CAC is high and not “uniquely defensible”. It’s low/code no/code website but the idea is there and she’s proven the marketability of it
- memset 5y agoYC itself has a service for finding cofounders. I myself have not used it, but if she hasn’t taken a look it’s worth a mention: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27750298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27750298
- danhackerino 5y agoSounds great. I'm currently also seeking a technical co-founder for my start-up, I'm looking exclusively for white men.
- AltonWells 5y agoSounds like you don’t understand gender bias
- danhackerino 5y ago"I'm looking for a co-founder, MUST be female, not willing to consider males. Please avoid gender bias on my thread, though - thanks". You are sexist, dress it up however you want to.
- jimmyvalmer 5y agoI assert the same want ad for sex partners. Sexism gets a bad rap.
- danhackerino 5y agoThere are reasons why (legally) you're not allowed to discriminate in the workplace based on gender, but are allowed to in selecting a partner. They're not the same, even a bit. If anything it's just a (slightly) witty analogy. You already know that. If people want to play the 'free to discriminate against particular group identities' - I'm game. Let's see how that one plays out.
- jimmyvalmer 5y agoI didn't want to say it at first, for fear of invoking dang, but I am talking about the workplace. I was referring to prostitution, which is as valid a professional environment as any.
- bsldld 5y agoI think https://elpha.com https://elpha.com would be a place to look for help.