Word of advice here: only work with people you know really well, or look up to. The success of your startup will depend on that person, and a random person will

Word of advice here: only work with people you know really well, or look up to. The success of your startup will depend on that person, and a random person will most likely not share your motivation and can have any number of quirks that you will only find out over the course of many months/years. It's completely possible to pick up a brilliant hacker or business genius out of the blue, but the people who are brilliant hackers/business geniuses probably have friends who they'd start a company with rather than a stranger. Personal anecdote - I picked a cofounder who I had worked with in the past, but didn't really completely know. Incredibly bright guy, but no ability to get things done. He was delighted to blow money when we had it, but when things got rough he brought the whole atmosphere of the startup down with him and eventually left. Now I only work with people I've known for many years, and the success of my ventures with them speaks for itself.