Developers · Early Stage Company Development

Advice and Best Places to Find Developer Co-Founders?

Sean Sullivan Marketing Evangelist @Selas Technologies, LLC | Digital Strategist | Startup Enthusiast | Entrepreneur

August 9th, 2016

I am working on a B2C Social Media Marketing venture and currently work with one developer. I wanted to know based on everyone's experiences, what are some of the best methods / places / or ways to find another Developer Co-Founder?

I have read numerous discussions since being on FD and many people say, "Teach Yourself Code" or "People don't work for Free". I recently started to learn basic code and plan to continue, however, the platform that we are building could use another developer to help increase the speed and efficiency of work. I also understand that people don't work for free, however, any small company at some point had people working with no pay and only for equity.

So any advice, places to look, or even how to approach currently developers about joining a very early stage business in development phases would be great.

Thanks

Chicke Fitzgerald

August 11th, 2016

Paul, I am a paid member and as I said, I would gladly have paid even more if there were someone that helped to actually do the matchmaking.

From my perspective, there is a bit of a flaw in how FD asks the qualifying questions. If you are looking for a co-founder, it is logical that you would want someone that is not also looking for a co-founder (e.g. already has an idea) but who wants to "be" a co-founder (based on someone else having an idea and just needing skills, whether tech or otherwise). Right now the database isn't segregated that way.

So if I am looking for both a tech and a biz dev partner in my business (which I am) and am willing to give up equity and/or profit sharing and within a reasonable time am willing to also pay a market salary (which I will) and the person is willing to relocate (which is important to me), there isn't really a place to say that, other than in narrative.

I'm still going to stick with it, and am encouraged that they were acquired. I would hope that they would even ask some of us how to make it better. I would be happy to be on an advisory board to that end.

Chicke Fitzgerald

August 11th, 2016

@paulgarcia great in theory, but if everyone is looking for the tech cofounders on any platform it is a bit like having a dating site with all men and no women or a real estate site with all buyers and no sellers.

I would pay way more than $50 for true access to viable tech co-founders that want to be "found" and truly want an idea (or better yet a completed MVP that has been in the market for a year like mine has) that they can take and run with.

No one has truly stepped in to fill that gap.

Paul Garcia marketing exec & business advisor

August 11th, 2016

@chicke have you tried it so you can actually report that FD does not have the co-founders claimed? Considering FD was recently acquired by it's biggest competitor, it would appear the (online) co-founder network is mostly locked up here. Presumably the co-founders would not pay if they were not interested. Everyone isn't looking. It appears from the outside that more than 80% of the 250,000 people on FD are in the free sections and not able to communicate with co-founder members. Empirically that would suggest the FD members who express an interest in being co-founders are not overwhelmed or that they are all roosters with no hens, so to speak. There would likely be evidence of a negative experience in the years since the co-founder element was launched.

Narendra MBA Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer and Entrepreneur

August 11th, 2016

One alternative is to find people on a specialized network (www.startupwind.com) where people are self selecting their interest in startups - as a co-founder, advisor, team member who wants to work for startups etc.

StartupWind is a premier network for startup founders, advisers, alumni and students who are from premier school within US.

Sean Sullivan Marketing Evangelist @Selas Technologies, LLC | Digital Strategist | Startup Enthusiast | Entrepreneur

August 12th, 2016

Thanks everyone for all the responses.

Paul Garcia marketing exec & business advisor

August 10th, 2016

Isn't FD set up for finding co-founders, one of the reasons to be here? Pay the $50 and step outside the entrepreneur section to the co-founder section so you can see/contact them.

Paul Garcia marketing exec & business advisor

August 11th, 2016

Chicke, I agree that there are a number of areas in which the interface and information sorting could be improved. It appears that regardless of the acquisition, FD is making an effort to enrich their service and recognizes that it hasn't figured out the formula yet. The acquisition has to do with investor matching and OneVest's CoFounderLab, so that piece will eventually get integrated I expect. CoFounderLab does have a search based on "I am a ___ looking for a ____"

Solomiya Zahray Business Matchmaker - you have the need I know the people

August 10th, 2016

You might fund following ideas as to where to looking them up(besides founderdating:) )interesting:

social networks like this one + Linkedin, Facebook, Github, Twitter, startus.cc
visiting local events for developers + startup events like TechCrunch Disrupt, TedX, WebSummit, AngelHack
ask people in your network or through business events for referrals or suggestions(never underestimate your network)
contact accelerators/incubators for referrals

I would not suggest looking for them via upwork, guru or other freelance platforms since it would not necessary target the right people/people with the right mindset + it can be quite overwhelming.

From our personal experience at Romexsoftyou simply don't marry someone after your first date; we start off with companies as their outsourcing partner, providing expertise, analyse & dedicated teams and if there's a good match, after a couple of years, - we partner (as in become a technical co-founder). And honestly - it makes more sense; but then again this is my personal humble opinion.

hope this helps, ping me if you have questions.

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