Alternatives to finding a cofounder
When I dropped out of Stanford to pursue my startup, I used to think I NEEDED a cofounder. I couldn't do it alone!!!
I searched for a cofounder for 2 years. I went through 7 co-founders, and whenever things got hard, they dropped. In the end, I made $0 revenue for my two startups Sesame and QueerChart, and had lasting emotional traumas :(
But here's the thing. When I went solo, I found 40 paying customers after 2 months. Now, I'm at $6k MRR.
I always thought I could find a cofounder thats "The One." I'm ex-Stanford, I have an awesome network, and I work well in team settings. But after 1000 hours of finding/nurturing co-founders that inevitably dropped when shit hit the fan or traction wasn't going well.... I realized. Fuck it. I can find other ways to outsource my needs.
I joined a Founder community for solo founders -- they take care of all my loneliness needs and help me figure out decisions. They are all like my "cofounders" -- a close group of founders where we get to have all the connections/support/expertise without any of the drama.
I also filled some of my skill gaps. Since I'm technical, I filled all my nontechnical gaps through reading customer development books and chatting with sales gods. At the same time, I am a shit coder so I filled that gap by using no-code tools. Once I got paying customers, I started out using no-code tools for my MVP, then once validated, I used the money I made to hire people.
Here's the thing. It takes some effort to find a tight-knit community, and also fill in your skill gaps. I took me a month, which sucked. But if I didn't do it, I'd be saying "fuck i need a cofounder... i can't do it alone" for the rest of my life. A broken record player that can only end in grief.
Resources:
- FoundersCafe.io -- this is the community I'm part of -- solo founders co-work together every day.
- Solo founders outperform teams - https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/2-founders-are-not-always-better-1
- Solo founders make more rev and have bigger exits than teams - https://medium.com/the-launch-path/as-a-predictor-of-startup-success-whats-better-solo-founders-or-founding-teams-20f4518dbfc3
You’re promote foundercafe too much, and I sure you and your friends downvote @tiagorbf comment because he have similar community
promoting paid service and not disclosing it as promotion is not a good step
There are definitely benefits of being a solofounder but, especially for extrovert people, it might be hard to be alone for so long. I did not know about FoundersCafe.io, sounds quite cool. I have created a similar solofounder community that is quite cool too (and much cheaper XD). If you want to have a look, it is called WBE Space
Great story, but one thing tho, did you join the community or create it? Because it seems like you are the founder of the community you “joined”?
Super cringe. Can't believe admissions standards at Stanford have fallen so low.
Good motivational story. What about instead of co-founders you just looked for top tier employees from your network?
On deck is a very good place to find cofounders (and also get funding)
https://www.beondeck.com/
thank for sharing
I suck at coding too. And was struggling to build MVP. Thanks to your post now I'm more confident and optimistic!! Do you think I can use Figma as a no code tool?
Do you ever think that the first failures and lessons learnt are a part of your success now?
Hey there,
I've had a hard time finding a co-founder as well. However, I realized it might be easier to find a co-founder after operating successfully for a while. Visit here to find the cofounder after clicking on the link https://www.tricksehow.com/best-laptop-for-accounting-students/
if you operate successfully you will get a director of something not a cofounder :)
and how a piece for selecting a laptop will help with the search for cofounders ?
Hey Maddie, thanks for these insights.
As you are also the founder of founderscafe.io could you maybe elaborate a little bit on the specifics of founderscafe.io? It surely sounds interesting. How are the interactions happening? How specifically are people helping each others to make decisions? Are people there daily, for full days like in an office-environment?
it is just an advert, don't expect much out of it
I've had a hard time finding a cofounder as well. However I realised it might be easier to find a co-founder after operating successfully for a while.
Exactly! I noticed when I spent more time thinking "how can I get paying customers" and less time thinking "how can I find a cofounder" I got a lot further.
I wouldn't say that I've given up on finding a co-founder. The thought of working with someone through thick and thin (translation: having someone who get it when I just want to sit on the couch and binge eat girl scout cookies) is very appealing. However, the company doesn't run unless I put in effort. Currently I rather put in the work to grow the company then searching for a co-founder.
Also, I find that co-working virtually or in-person with other co-founders meets my need most of the time. So for those of you still struggling to find a co-founder, it's ok to take a break and continue going solo. If you are successful, the right co-founder might just show.
Same. The thought of having a romantic ride or die AND a business ride or die is gold. I def agree the right one might come along but I'm not going to hold my breath for them :D
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This comment was deleted a year ago.
She has made several posts like this that make it sound like she doesn't run the community she mentions. And I'm pretty sure she asks her community to upvote her posts too as they often seem to get a lot of votes despite saying very little. It would be useful to have a downvote option on posts, not just comments.