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Ask HN: How do you find potential coworkers for a startup?

5 points by piercena ↗ HN
I feel I have a good idea for a potential company (bias recognized) but I don't have anyone to help me get it off the ground. I don't live in a big city, nearest one is 90 minutes away, and I honestly don't trust the people I do know with this project because they don't seem to follow through. I can't ask my current coworkers either, who I wish I could, for various reasons. Thoughts or suggestions?

9 comments

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smockman36
I suggest you take it as far as you can by yourself, and then seek partners online. To take it off the ground, do you need someone to build a prototype? If that's the case, write out some deliverables and shop it around to developers.
Mz
Get a copy of the book "Wishcraft." It may not help you find a cofounder, but it may help you find a path forward.

Also, Walmart was founded because Sam Walton's wife was adamant she wanted to live in a small town. He loved her. He respected her wishes. He became ridiculously wealthy. Get over the idea that real businesses start in the big city.

Best of luck.

piercena
I was trying to allude to the fact the talent pool where I am is significantly smaller than it would be in a large city. I should have made that more clear. I'll have to check out this book too. Thanks for the suggestion!
kohanz
I think you'd be more accurate using the term co-founder, since you're just at the idea stage.
codegeek
I have been in similar boat even though I am now a lot more advanced. I have a working product with paying clients but still having a hard time finding a good reliable partner/co-worker other than freelancers. Extremely difficult problem. Friends are useless even though some of them could be good fit but no one wants to quit their "stable" job

My suggestions in order:

1. Build a working prototype first. Either do it yourself or get a freelance developer to do it if you cannot do it yourself.

2. Market. Talk to everyone you know. Go online. Start writing about the product. Buy adwords if you have to. Put a simple landing page.

3. Attend local meetups if possible. This is usually a hit or a miss but it can never hurt. Search for meetups within the business idea that you have. Again, this will be like finding a needle in a haystack but you may find that needle.

Oh, repeat 1-3 infinitely until...

tmaly
I was in the same boat, I just launched an alpha on my idea. I say just do it yourself and use sites like fiverr to help you with things that consume too much time
JSeymourATL
> but I don't have anyone to help me get it off the ground.

Have you defined exactly what sort of help you need? If you can get clear on that, then it's a relatively easy process to zero-in on where that sort individual hangs-out either online or in-person. Say there's a meet-up in major hub city. It's worth making a special trip to attend. You might need to have 100+ conversations till you find the right person.

piercena
Thats a good. Because its both a hardware and software solution, and i'm a SWE is there somewhere the hardware crew typically hangs out? Is there specific places to look for hardware people? I feel like Meetup is heavy on the Software side of things.
siquick
Validate your idea before you do anything.

Speak to your target market and get them hyped about your product. If you can get them to pre-order then even better.

Don't think you know exactly what people want because you're most likely going to be wrong and will waste so much of your time and money.