I thought finding a good co-founder would take a month, it took over a year

When I started my app idea, I figured the hard part was the code. I was so wrong. I posted in local groups and went to every startup meetup in Austin for months. I met a lot of people who liked the idea, but no one who truly got the vision or had the skills to build it with me. I wasted 3 months with a guy who just wanted a title, not the work. My turning point was when a friend said, 'Stop looking for a co-founder, start looking for a partner.' That changed my whole search. I started working on small projects with people first, which added another 6 months, but it worked. I finally found my person through a hackathon, not a networking event. Has anyone else had to completely change their approach to find the right business partner?

3 comments

3 Comments

sullivan.spencer2d ago

Yeah, the partner thing is huge. I tried to start a food truck with my cousin once. We both loved the idea, but he saw it as a weekend hobby and I was ready to quit my job. We didn't talk about the real work, like who would handle the grease trap cleaning at 2 AM. It fell apart before we even bought a truck. That taught me to ask the hard questions up front, not just share the dream.

alex3072d ago

Totally feel that. My old roommate and I tried to start a small print shop. We agreed on everything until the first big order had a typo. He wanted to just ship it and hope they didn't notice, and I knew we had to eat the cost and redo it. That one moment showed we had totally different ideas about quality.

terryk282d ago

Man, that's so true. It's not just about asking the hard questions up front like @sullivan.spencer said, though that's smart. You have to see how someone acts when a small project goes wrong. Do they blame you, or do they just fix it? I worked with someone who was great in meetings, but the first time our test site crashed, they totally froze. That showed me more than any conversation ever could. Finding a partner is like a trial run for all the bad days you know are coming.