How to find co-founders for your startup or business
the whole truth, my top 7 websites and platforms, and relevant community hubs and co-working space
What’s in this article:
having co-founders is like having a love relationship
where to find cofounders
a special note for people living in the global south
In the picture you can see Professor Lola The Dachshund, I am the on the right. Despite I would love to have her as co-founder, unfortunately she is not, we only talk about neuroscience. Recently quite few people in academia asked me how to find a cofounder for a spin-of they had in mind, and in the past I joined few ventures with (human) co-founders and then loosing them, so I think I can talk about it. Let me summarize everything in one sentence:
having co-founders in startup or partner in business is like a love relationship, and not just at the beginning when you find each other.
Except special cases, ventures to succeed need to have 2/3 main founders. If you have an idea, you need partners complementing you. It is important that you are aligned with vision, and that you can work together (even remotely). Moreover, it is important to involve people who can handle stress, and have similar level of motivation. Like in a relationship someone might be looking for fun and someone to get married, having kids, etc. It is the same in business, some people have a job and would like to do something on the side (and they think it will be enough 30 minutes a week), and other people are ready to work 25 hours a day on an idea, and even sleep in their car if things get tough, as long as they have a successful startup. Indeed, it is not just finding people but keeping them. There will be many moments when the startup/business will be like a rocking boat… like any marriage. Better finding people who can endure the same level of stress of you.
Now that you have been warned, where do you find partners/co-founders?
A. Like for relationships, start with people you already know in your existing social circle:
Friends
Colleagues
Schoolmates
but social circles might be limited. Besides, do not fall in the trap of creating a business with your close circle because those are the only people you know, you might end up in the misaligned scenarios I mentioned in the previous section.
B. So, go through your social media contacts and even post about this need (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin), but also Facebook/Linkedin groups beyond your contacts and even the Reddit channel r/cofounder:
Just be aware who you are getting with, like any marriage you don’t marry the guy/girl you just matched on Tinder, or do you?
C. Use platforms/websites for founders, here are my top 7:
YCombinator, the world’s largest startup accelerator, has a free Co-Founder Matching Program (Mentioned all over the internet, but I never used it).
CoFoundersLab (I found a cool person here) is a community 400,000 members, they also have a paid membership plan including access to courses and learning material to upskill your project management, and more control in messaging potential co-founders. However, I found some criticisms online regarding their customer service.
Indie Hackers: Work Together to Build Profitable Online Businesses
Very nerdy interface, strongly oriented to the IT sector.
FoundersList is an open platform for founders to connect, launch ideas/products. It is clearly stated in the splash page that it is meant to find co-founders.
F6S connects 4 million founders and startups to funding, jobs & free hosting deals
FoundersDAO Community of investors and startupers, you can post about the fact you are looking for co-founder:
Trends.vc has a very larger network but it has no free plan at all at the moment.
Honorable mention was founderdating.com which seems down at the moment, but the name said it all.
The rest of the truth is that there are other old school ways.
Moreover, what do you do if you live in the global south (southern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America)? The issue might be that the platforms I previously mentioned are more used by European/American. It is better to consider other options if you want a partner/co-founder living in your same country.
I hope you are not introvert, because this is the hard truth: you need to go to meetings, events, conferences and approach people. Those can be hackathon at the university, for example the SPARK-BrainTumorSegmentationChallenge of the CAMERA Africa MRI initiative, or the Africa OpenScienceHardware summit.
Or go physically to co-working spaces or physical hubs with community of people, here you should simply talk to people and get to know each other:
iHub Kenya,
Silicon Cape | Catalyst for Tech Innovation in Cape Town,
Iceaddis in Ethiopia, etc.
But also Hackerspace as MBOALAB in Cameroon or the Kumasi Hive in Ghana. This was a list to help my fellow sub-Saharan friends, find the equivalent in your city where community of active people hang around, it does not necessarily has to be a fix place, it can be a meetup hosted in different places each time.
I hope this list was useful, but remember above all to be careful who you marry as cofounder/partner for your business.