Finding Technical Co Founders on the Internet

What to do and what not to do when trying to find that perfect someone over the internet.

I’ve been lucky enough to personally work with 130+ early stage startups over the past two years. A lot of these are young adults looking for a technical co-founder and others are seasoned entrepreneurs looking for a new software developer. Through the observations of these companies I have come up with some observations on how to find a co-founder online. This is not supposed to be taken as fact. But I’m sure when you read these observations it will become pretty clear that they work.

Stop Looking For a Technical Co-Founder

Stop searching for a co-founder. I want that point to be known. Signing an operating agreement with a co-founder is like tying the knot with a significant other. So for all the people that are searching on the Internet for a co-founder — slow your roll. You’re not going to get married to someone you meet on match.com after the first date right? So don’t expect to marry the first technical savvy person you meet online.

Build The Relationship

It takes time and work to develop a relationship ready for marriage. So it takes time and work to develop a co-founder. The most successful early stage startups hire a software developer and build that relationship. You see it all the time with just a general senior level position. The startup hires a freelancer for contractual work because they can’t pay a salary. They continuously hire that one freelancer who truly understands and believes in their vision. After a year they pull her on full time.

The most successful co-founder relationships are the one’s built over time. Hire or contract out to a few developers (developer/digital agencies don’t count) you connect with. Start building those relationships.

If You Have No Money

If you have no cash it’s probably hard to connect with a few freelancers or hire someone. Most people will tell you you’re out of luck. Or you can’t find a technical co-founder. Well they’re all wrong. They either have tried hard enough or went to the right places. Well after building VentureStorm with no money — to originally help people with no money — I know a thing or two about getting it done.

Find the young talent. You need to try to find someone who doesn’t require a paycheck. Find someone who doesn’t have bills to pay. Find someone who needs real world experience. Do you know who has all of that in common? A college student! VentureStorm originated to help connect college entrepreneurs and college computer science students. So there are still tons of students looking to learn while helping a startup. Many of the original students have done side projects while in school only to go on and work at Google, Facebook, Palantir, Amazon, etc.

Now these students may not be as efficient as a professional. And they cannot guarantee a perfect product (IMHO who can). But they can get you your MVP for some equity. And that relationship may evolve into that technical co-founder as the business proves to be valuable.