While it’s possible to go it alone and be a single-person founder of a startup, many people need – and prefer – to have a co-founder. As Graphic.ly CEO Micah Baldwin describes it, you want “a hacker and a hustler.”
But finding someone who has the right skills, the right personality, the right work style, the right vision isn’t easy. In fact, judging from the number of times you see people posting “looking for co-founder” on Hacker News, it’s quite a challenge.
On Monday, the Cofounder Network launched, aiming to help solve this problem by matching entrepreneurs from around the world. “By connecting superior entrepreneurs to start up new ventures,” reads the blog post announcing the network, “we will boost the startup ecosystem and help solve world problems along the way.”
The Cofounder Network is an initiative of techVenture, which already works to bring together entrepreneurs and investors. The Cofounder Network will function in a similar way, addressing both the screening and the matching of applicants.
You can either apply directly to the network or be referred by a partner. Currently, these partners include Startup School, Indiegogo, Linden Ventures, Palomar5, and others.
The application asks for entrepreneurs to describe “your personal mission in life,” to give links to your digital identity, and to describe past experiences and achievements. Applicants are also asked to describe what they’re looking for in an ideal co-founder.
The first step will be to look for a match locally, and if one can’t be found to then look globally. The Cofounder Network has partners worldwide, and argues that “matching cofounders coming from different cultural hemispheres can bring another significant advantage.”
Meeting people at local networking events, conferences, and (the most common place, perhaps) college may be the most well-known routes to finding a co-founder. But clearly that’s not always an option, and so the Cofounder Network hopes to be another avenue for folks to explore.
