Distant co-founder

June 8th, 2013

Hi all,

I'm bootstrapping an ecommerce venture with an innovative product to let people give a personal touch to their cars.

I'm located in Israel and I'm looking for a co-founder but I was wondering whether it would be right to look for one in the US. My main concern is around finding a good match remotely. I believe that the getting together and spending a significant amount of time discussing the different aspect of the venture and to learn about each other is essential to discover if there is a good match.

On the other hand I recognise the value of having a co-founder in one of the main target markets and in an area with good funding sources.

I'd be glad to get your thoughts on that.

Have a nice weekend,

- Gera

Trevor Collins Crowdfunding Entrepreneur & Co-Founder of 100 Danish

June 12th, 2013

Hi Gera,

Perhaps the best approach when looking remotely is not to begin with a 'co-founder', but instead a 'collaborator' or 'advisor' who likes you and your idea. If an interested party starts helping out, or lending guidance, or ideating on the business model with you, they'll be either further drawn in or pushed away. If you start making significant strides remotely eventually the two of you will hit a tipping point. A point where someone will say 'man, the prospect of working with you and bringing this idea to life is exciting. Let's put a partnership in place.'

Because what you're talking about centers around execution. After this build-up to full partnership, you'll intimately know how efficient the remote setup is for your situation. Video conferencing multiple times a week with Cisco Webex* + collaborating on Google Docs + executing tasks managed through Asana may equal success in the early stages of your venture. Or it may not. Either way you'll have tested the idea of partnership with both your gut and logical reasoning, and can make a clear decision from there.

One thing is for sure - you'll find talent and fresh perspectives this side of the pond that just won't exist in Israel. Hope this helps. Cheers, Trevor

(5x better than chatting over Skype. Fuze Meeting is also worth looking into.)

Alexander Lusher Marketing Professional

June 8th, 2013

Hi Gera,

IMHO, the outcome of your searches depends on a number of factors, such as common interests with a potential co-founder, similar background to avoid misunderstanding and cultural conflicts, and a few other things. I have never tried to find a remote co-founder, although believe it might be possible these days via Skype and TeamViewer. It all depends on what you need and how you do it...

Best,

Alex Lusher

Michael Coates

June 9th, 2013

What skills and background complement yours? No need for overlap.

Gera Waisbaum

June 12th, 2013

Thanks all for your feedback!

Trevor - I actually like very much your approach. It makes sense and would be a good starting point.

Best regards,

- Gera

Michael Brill Technology startup exec focused on AI-driven products

June 9th, 2013

Distributed anything is hard... especially in the early stages of ideation. It gets really bad when you bring on a third person and now there's the odd man out who starts to get ignored. It's much, much easier to create something in a one market with one team. There are certainly exceptions if the two of you are already completely in-sync and it's more a matter of execution. OTOH, if you really think that investment would come from another market and you'd be willing and able to move to that market, then perhaps finding a co-founder in that market, working for a short period of time with them with the intention of raising money together may make sense. Otherwise, just having one person in a good financing market puts the onus on that person to tell the story about why their 2 person company that is split by 10,000 miles is going to work.

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