Personal relationships are key especially when dealing with the highs and lows of startup life.. sounds like you have a great wife and companion though!
Great writeup! I found this quote from your post especially fitting:
“You don't "find" a cofounder, just like you don't "find" a wife. It’s a relationship with someone else that evolves over time and then someday, someone pops the question.”
I hope to find a good cofounder someday to compliment my skills and strengths, but until then I keep moving forward.
"I hope to find a good cofounder someday to compliment my skills and strengths, but until then I keep moving forward."
I've been doing the same, but chatting with PG today uncovered the disquieting possibility that making progress on my own project is making it harder to sync up with potential cofounders. I've met several good people in the last few months, sometimes with very similar ideas. It seems easier to keep pushing on what I'm doing rather than to return to an empty page..
I'm not sure what the answer is. Waiting to find a co-founder seems like a leap into the unknown.
"making progress on my own project is making it harder to sync up with potential cofounders"
never thought of that, thanks for sharing! I guess working startup life hours would make it hard to really connect with someone. I would suggest trying to take at least a couple hours out of your day to do something social (events, other interests, sports, etc) and really take the time to disconnect and meet others. You never know where your co-founder will be.
"I guess working startup life hours would make it hard to really connect with someone."
Even if you resolve the logistics of meeting people, there's more to finding a co-founder than that. In fact, meeting people is the easy part. The two of you have to get excited about something together. That's hard. And it's harder if you're already excited about something by yourself.
It's also been useful to keep up with the dozen or so potential co-founders I've gotten to know and enjoy the company of. They're all working on their own projects, but there's always the possibility of a collaboration. In particular, if one of us suddenly finds traction the other may end up joining him.
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[ 572 ms ] story [ 56.5 ms ] threadPersonal relationships are key especially when dealing with the highs and lows of startup life.. sounds like you have a great wife and companion though!
“You don't "find" a cofounder, just like you don't "find" a wife. It’s a relationship with someone else that evolves over time and then someday, someone pops the question.”
I hope to find a good cofounder someday to compliment my skills and strengths, but until then I keep moving forward.
I've been doing the same, but chatting with PG today uncovered the disquieting possibility that making progress on my own project is making it harder to sync up with potential cofounders. I've met several good people in the last few months, sometimes with very similar ideas. It seems easier to keep pushing on what I'm doing rather than to return to an empty page..
I'm not sure what the answer is. Waiting to find a co-founder seems like a leap into the unknown.
I'm not all freaked out about it; I'm still productive everyday. But I agonize over whether I'm missing an alternative path.
never thought of that, thanks for sharing! I guess working startup life hours would make it hard to really connect with someone. I would suggest trying to take at least a couple hours out of your day to do something social (events, other interests, sports, etc) and really take the time to disconnect and meet others. You never know where your co-founder will be.
Even if you resolve the logistics of meeting people, there's more to finding a co-founder than that. In fact, meeting people is the easy part. The two of you have to get excited about something together. That's hard. And it's harder if you're already excited about something by yourself.