6 ms·

How to Find the Right Co-Founders

51 points by sebst 12y ago

jacques_chester 12y ago
You need the Business Model Canvas to Canvas the Business Model Canvas. Once you've Business Modelled on the Canvas, the Canvas Businesses the Model. Business Model Canvas, interstitial words, Business Model Canvas. Malkovitch? Business Model Canvas.
- gamebit07 12y ago
  Had this article posted anywhere else, given Steve Blanc's air, it would have started defining new rules. At HN, you don't BS, not even, when you are @sgblank.
moron4hire 12y ago
This is, "how to define your ideal startup roster", like some people define their ideal mate. This has nothing to do with actually finding said people.
lowglow 12y ago
Just so everyone is aware, Steve has ghost writers. This may or may not have actually been written by him.
- alexanderss 12y ago
  He needs ghost web designers.
- jacques_chester 12y ago
  And this makes it OK because ...?
- sblank 12y ago
  really? I'd love to meet them.
  - lowglow 12y ago
    Hi Steve. :) Yes, If I can remember the young woman's name I'll let you know. She had brunette hair IIRC. [edit] To further that, if you're telling the truth, then I can't imagine why someone would lie about having that job.
mvd366 12y ago
The title and content of this post seem to address vastly different subjects. Nowhere in the article does it attempt to address the task of "finding the right co-founders." I must admit, I was a bit let down...
- hkarthik 12y ago
  Agreed. It had more to do with determining the skill sets required for a successful founding team. Which is only one step. The next (and probably much harder step) is finding people WITH these skills that are willing to work together on a startup.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    That would be a meet-up worth attending - one where the attendees were vetted for skills and willingness.
recalibrator 12y ago
This is an ad.
netcan 12y ago
Common wisdom is that cofounders should be sought early on. However, this is not the only approach. The ideal cofounder is a socially awkward genius, a proverbial Wozniak. He is capable of long hours, engineering feats and brilliant work. Such a man is hard to seduce, by traditional means. So, finding your Woz is one problem. An even trickier problem is ensnaring him. This requires some craftiness. One thing to avoid is ideas. Ideas just introduce the possibility of boring the Woz with a job he doesn't want to be doing. Instead, go straight to recruiting interns. I am really hesitant to say this, considering the moral implications but this is unavoidable: young attractive, impressionable interns. Female will usually work best, but you can't be certain. Some days an unusual bait will outfish everything so don't discount young men or other non traditional choices. Avoid over the top and extroverted beauty. An understated, geeky 23 year old brunette with a tendency to wide eyed admiration is a good, safe choice. Interns are available at affordable prices at your nearest University. Once you've baited your hook, approach slowly. Ask questions. Advice. Try to use pose interesting challenges. This is a game of seduction. Her job is to bring him to you. You're job is to be hapless, but good hearted. Egalitarianism tendencies can be overpowering, Your Woz will not let this beautiful young woman (or man, do I have to keep doing this?) set herself up for failure. You must encourage an inescapable desire to be helpful, fueled by poorly understood romantic desires and a touch of fatherly care. Step 2 underpants. Step 3 profit EDIT: I see this comment has been poorly received. Would anyone like to join me as junior cofounder of an internship startup?
- sergiotapia 12y ago
  What the fuck am I reading?
  - netcan 12y ago
    language, please.
  - alexanderss 12y ago
    Seriously, this is what gives Hacker News a bad name.
- sebst 12y ago
idlewords 12y ago
"Co-founders Skills are the First Derivative of the Business Model Canvas" My Internet safety helmet snapped shut after that line.
- smilliken 12y ago
  You're right, it really should be expressed the other way: integrate skill with respect to time and you get the company's business model. Presumably skill is a vector-valued function that traces out the company's core competencies over time, and naturally the "Business Model Canvas" is a surface that represents the accumulated area along this function. The point the article is making is a corollary of this. You want to choose co-founders that are linearly-independent in skill-space and maximize the magnitude of each of the desired components over time. Over a large enough interval, this is the same as optimizing on the first derivative of skill, or maximizing in skill-learning space (preferring higher values at t=0, ceteris paribus).
  - beachstartup 12y ago
    uh, right. in english, is you want to find people you can actually work day to day with, who are actually capable of learning things and doing things on time while communicating problems. in reality this tends to be the following kind of people: * generally not your childhood friends, though i've given contract work to childhood friends and it turned out fine. * professional acquaintances / previous coworkers / someone you've seen work on a day to day basis * people you've talked with on irc for years and who aren't insane * major contributors to open source software you use * a reference from someone in an entrepreneurial network
    - nostrademons 12y ago
      The interesting thing I've noticed about cofounders is that basically every rule about cofounders has been broken by at least one billion-dollar startup: "Don't be a single founder"? E-bay. "Don't do a shotgun wedding. The founders have to have known each other for a while and worked on projects together before they jump into the stress of a startup"? DropBox (met through a mutual classmate's introduction after Drew's first YC application) and GitHub (met at a networking meetup). "Don't do an uneven equity split"? Microsoft, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Netscape. "Don't be an asshole"? Apple, Oracle, SnapChat. "Make sure everyone's willing to quit their day job or not return to school"? Apple (Steve Wozniak initially wasn't willing to leave HP until their VC convinced him), Google (Larry and Sergey tried to sell the company and finish their Ph.Ds, but nobody was willing to buy at the price they wanted, < $1M). "Get a technical cofounder"? This one's harder, the only companies I can think of are Auctomatic (which had technical cofounders after it merged with the Collison brothers), Digg (which didn't do so well), and Travelocity (which was a spin-off of American Airlines). This doesn't mean the rules are invalid, but it does point out how many exceptions there are. I think that usually a good test is simply that it feels right, that you want to work with that person.
nishantradia 12y ago
Apart from techniacl competency, If the guy loves the same sitcom as you- he's the guy !!
damoncali 12y ago
Is this a joke?
keeptrying 12y ago
Hmmm. This is more about findign the right employee. Everything looks like a nail when all you ever want to sell is a hammer.

51 points by sebst 12y ago

You need the Business Model Canvas to Canvas the Business Model Canvas. Once you've Business Modelled on the Canvas, the Canvas Businesses the Model. Business Model Canvas, interstitial words, Business Model Canvas. Malkovitch? Business Model Canvas.

gamebit07 12y ago
Had this article posted anywhere else, given Steve Blanc's air, it would have started defining new rules. At HN, you don't BS, not even, when you are @sgblank.

moron4hire 12y ago

This is, "how to define your ideal startup roster", like some people define their ideal mate. This has nothing to do with actually finding said people.

lowglow 12y ago

Just so everyone is aware, Steve has ghost writers. This may or may not have actually been written by him.

alexanderss 12y ago
He needs ghost web designers.
jacques_chester 12y ago
And this makes it OK because ...?
sblank 12y ago
really? I'd love to meet them.
- lowglow 12y ago
  Hi Steve. :) Yes, If I can remember the young woman's name I'll let you know. She had brunette hair IIRC. [edit] To further that, if you're telling the truth, then I can't imagine why someone would lie about having that job.

mvd366 12y ago

The title and content of this post seem to address vastly different subjects. Nowhere in the article does it attempt to address the task of "finding the right co-founders." I must admit, I was a bit let down...

hkarthik 12y ago
Agreed. It had more to do with determining the skill sets required for a successful founding team. Which is only one step. The next (and probably much harder step) is finding people WITH these skills that are willing to work together on a startup.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  That would be a meet-up worth attending - one where the attendees were vetted for skills and willingness.

recalibrator 12y ago

This is an ad.

netcan 12y ago

Common wisdom is that cofounders should be sought early on. However, this is not the only approach. The ideal cofounder is a socially awkward genius, a proverbial Wozniak. He is capable of long hours, engineering feats and brilliant work. Such a man is hard to seduce, by traditional means. So, finding your Woz is one problem. An even trickier problem is ensnaring him. This requires some craftiness. One thing to avoid is ideas. Ideas just introduce the possibility of boring the Woz with a job he doesn't want to be doing. Instead, go straight to recruiting interns. I am really hesitant to say this, considering the moral implications but this is unavoidable: young attractive, impressionable interns. Female will usually work best, but you can't be certain. Some days an unusual bait will outfish everything so don't discount young men or other non traditional choices. Avoid over the top and extroverted beauty. An understated, geeky 23 year old brunette with a tendency to wide eyed admiration is a good, safe choice. Interns are available at affordable prices at your nearest University. Once you've baited your hook, approach slowly. Ask questions. Advice. Try to use pose interesting challenges. This is a game of seduction. Her job is to bring him to you. You're job is to be hapless, but good hearted. Egalitarianism tendencies can be overpowering, Your Woz will not let this beautiful young woman (or man, do I have to keep doing this?) set herself up for failure. You must encourage an inescapable desire to be helpful, fueled by poorly understood romantic desires and a touch of fatherly care. Step 2 underpants. Step 3 profit EDIT: I see this comment has been poorly received. Would anyone like to join me as junior cofounder of an internship startup?

sergiotapia 12y ago
What the fuck am I reading?
- netcan 12y ago
  language, please.
- alexanderss 12y ago
  Seriously, this is what gives Hacker News a bad name.
sebst 12y ago

idlewords 12y ago

"Co-founders Skills are the First Derivative of the Business Model Canvas" My Internet safety helmet snapped shut after that line.

smilliken 12y ago
You're right, it really should be expressed the other way: integrate skill with respect to time and you get the company's business model. Presumably skill is a vector-valued function that traces out the company's core competencies over time, and naturally the "Business Model Canvas" is a surface that represents the accumulated area along this function. The point the article is making is a corollary of this. You want to choose co-founders that are linearly-independent in skill-space and maximize the magnitude of each of the desired components over time. Over a large enough interval, this is the same as optimizing on the first derivative of skill, or maximizing in skill-learning space (preferring higher values at t=0, ceteris paribus).
- beachstartup 12y ago
  uh, right. in english, is you want to find people you can actually work day to day with, who are actually capable of learning things and doing things on time while communicating problems. in reality this tends to be the following kind of people: * generally not your childhood friends, though i've given contract work to childhood friends and it turned out fine. * professional acquaintances / previous coworkers / someone you've seen work on a day to day basis * people you've talked with on irc for years and who aren't insane * major contributors to open source software you use * a reference from someone in an entrepreneurial network
  - nostrademons 12y ago
    The interesting thing I've noticed about cofounders is that basically every rule about cofounders has been broken by at least one billion-dollar startup: "Don't be a single founder"? E-bay. "Don't do a shotgun wedding. The founders have to have known each other for a while and worked on projects together before they jump into the stress of a startup"? DropBox (met through a mutual classmate's introduction after Drew's first YC application) and GitHub (met at a networking meetup). "Don't do an uneven equity split"? Microsoft, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Netscape. "Don't be an asshole"? Apple, Oracle, SnapChat. "Make sure everyone's willing to quit their day job or not return to school"? Apple (Steve Wozniak initially wasn't willing to leave HP until their VC convinced him), Google (Larry and Sergey tried to sell the company and finish their Ph.Ds, but nobody was willing to buy at the price they wanted, < $1M). "Get a technical cofounder"? This one's harder, the only companies I can think of are Auctomatic (which had technical cofounders after it merged with the Collison brothers), Digg (which didn't do so well), and Travelocity (which was a spin-off of American Airlines). This doesn't mean the rules are invalid, but it does point out how many exceptions there are. I think that usually a good test is simply that it feels right, that you want to work with that person.

nishantradia 12y ago

Apart from techniacl competency, If the guy loves the same sitcom as you- he's the guy !!

damoncali 12y ago

Is this a joke?

keeptrying 12y ago

Hmmm. This is more about findign the right employee. Everything looks like a nail when all you ever want to sell is a hammer.