7 ms·

Ask HN: All about having/finding partner/cofounder

8 points by tarouter 17y ago

First, little background about myself. I have been listening to HN community for some time now. I've come to love this community, it's spirit, contribution and great advice from entrepreneurs of all levels. Having 7-8 years of developing mostly enterprise web applications, I have realized that I should combine my drive, my proactive nature with my recent passion to create something of value. I should take risk, work for myself. Greater the risks, greater the rewards (I'm not leaving my day job any sooner, yet). I have a few ideas (I'm constantly thinking about new ones). I'm going to pick one (which I think has great potential in terms of creating value and viable business) and implement it. But I don't have any partner, yet. I have found a few like-minded people, mostly at work. They share my dream about being an entrepreneur and have shown some interest in partnering with me. So my questions to you is all about having/finding partners/co-founders - 1) Why? - Everyone from Richard White in Entrepreneur's manual to many HN members strongly advice on getting a partner. Why is it so important to have a partner in your opinion? Can we do without having to have a partner at all? 2) Who? - Whom do you prefer to choose as a partner? What traits/characteristics/unique value propositions do you look in prospective partners? Should they be close friends or complete strangers would do? Do they have to bring something unique value to the table or it's ok if they are not much different than you? How do you know a person is a right partner ("your partner shares the same dream as you and likes you idea" is implicit here). In general, all advice about 'finding a right partner' is welcome. 3) How to decide terms of partnership? - How do you decide to split profits (if any, ever) between partners? How to decide the percentage of partnership? Does have to be equally split always? Of course not, but then what is the basis of deciding the percentage? Why would my partner be ready to accept anything less than 50%? 4) Can you please share you personal story about finding partners? I know there is no silver bullet. Each story is unique and cannot be applied to other situation as it is. But I always find personal stories inspirational and insightful, if I keep my eyes open. Sorry for such a long question. And it demands even longer answers. I know you guys are all very busy. But I guess many budding entrepreneurs may have these questions. I'm hoping, in the good spirit of our HN community, all you experts would shade some light on these questions. Thanks a lot in advance for your feedback and advice.

seasoup 17y ago
Read: http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://paulgraham.com/mit.html http://paulgraham.com/mit.html Two very good articles that cover some of the importance of having co-founders.
- seasoup 17y ago
  Excerpts from the mit.html link above that are especially pertinent: "Most of the questions people ask Y Combinator we have some kind of answer for, but not the co-founder question. There is no good answer. Co-founders really should be people you already know. And by far the best place to meet them is school." "If I were you I'd look for the people who are not just smart, but incurable builders. Look for the people who keep starting projects, and finish at least some of them. That's what we look for. Above all else, above academic credentials and even the idea you apply with, we look for people who build things." "The other place co-founders meet is at work. Fewer do than at school, but there are things you can do to improve the odds. The most important, obviously, is to work somewhere that has a lot of smart, young people. Another is to work for a company located in a startup hub. It will be easier to talk a co-worker into quitting with you in a place where startups are happening all around you." Sorry for the double comment, but I love this article :)
dannyr 17y ago
I'm a single founder. A lot of times, I wish it's not just me. It's hard looking for a cofounder. Instead of waiting to find one, I went ahead with my startup. I continue to network and hopefully one day, I'll find one.
- pedalpete 17y ago
  I second dannyr. I too am a solo founder. I believe that the challenges of being solo are a combination of psychological and business. From a psychological perspective. You'll have ups and downs in business. Good days where you think you're the best, bad days when you wonder why you're doing this at all, and of course, everything in between. A co-founder understands the different stages, and you get to celebrate/commiserate and continually motivate each other. From a business perspective, I think it's easier to understand. Nobody can know everything. Different angles of how to approach the business (and sometimes but maybe to a lesser degree the technology). Is one an expert in marketing while the other is a product person? If the partnership is a strong symbiotic relationship, then you are clearly more than the sum of the parts. Plus, two people can get more done in the same amount of time as one (not always, but usually). Two people have 1.23xxx times more network (lots of overlap), etc. etc.

8 points by tarouter 17y ago

seasoup 17y ago

Read: http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://paulgraham.com/mit.html http://paulgraham.com/mit.html Two very good articles that cover some of the importance of having co-founders.

seasoup 17y ago
Excerpts from the mit.html link above that are especially pertinent: "Most of the questions people ask Y Combinator we have some kind of answer for, but not the co-founder question. There is no good answer. Co-founders really should be people you already know. And by far the best place to meet them is school." "If I were you I'd look for the people who are not just smart, but incurable builders. Look for the people who keep starting projects, and finish at least some of them. That's what we look for. Above all else, above academic credentials and even the idea you apply with, we look for people who build things." "The other place co-founders meet is at work. Fewer do than at school, but there are things you can do to improve the odds. The most important, obviously, is to work somewhere that has a lot of smart, young people. Another is to work for a company located in a startup hub. It will be easier to talk a co-worker into quitting with you in a place where startups are happening all around you." Sorry for the double comment, but I love this article :)

dannyr 17y ago

I'm a single founder. A lot of times, I wish it's not just me. It's hard looking for a cofounder. Instead of waiting to find one, I went ahead with my startup. I continue to network and hopefully one day, I'll find one.

pedalpete 17y ago
I second dannyr. I too am a solo founder. I believe that the challenges of being solo are a combination of psychological and business. From a psychological perspective. You'll have ups and downs in business. Good days where you think you're the best, bad days when you wonder why you're doing this at all, and of course, everything in between. A co-founder understands the different stages, and you get to celebrate/commiserate and continually motivate each other. From a business perspective, I think it's easier to understand. Nobody can know everything. Different angles of how to approach the business (and sometimes but maybe to a lesser degree the technology). Is one an expert in marketing while the other is a product person? If the partnership is a strong symbiotic relationship, then you are clearly more than the sum of the parts. Plus, two people can get more done in the same amount of time as one (not always, but usually). Two people have 1.23xxx times more network (lots of overlap), etc. etc.