Meeting Cofounders Online

The sophistication of online dating tools such as okcupid has helped many people extend their romantic reach and spark relationships that shine (some might say smolder) for a lifetime.

Entrepreneurs and founders share with dating singles a similar need: they must find a trustworthy partner (or team) whose personality, skills and dedication will complement their own. Recently, I’ve wondered what online services exist out there for founders to find a co-founder, or for technical leaders to find an entrepreneurial counterpart and vice versa.

It turns out there are a handful of websites that offer just this service. I will be taking a look at these in the future and I’ll report what I find. In the meantime, here is the complete list:

  1. Startup With Me
  2. Founder2Be
  3. WeStartUp
  4. Cofounders Lab
  5. NetPly
  6. Foundrs
  7. Tech Cofounder
  8. Kofounder
  9. Founder Dating
  10. Cofounder Network

And some interesting resources that complement these services:

  1. HireLite: A “hiring speed-date” in which dozens of companies and dozens of candidates take turns in 5-minute bursts interviewing and getting to know each other. Viable matches follow up with each other after the “tournament”.
  2. Startup Digest: Articles and events (mostly in Silicon Valley) that facilitate getting going.
  3. Quora: How Do I Find Good Startup Partners?: Some discussion about this same topic. Some of the links above were found here.
  4. Cofounder Google Doc: A Google Doc that was created at news.ycombinator.com where people add themselves when looking for a cofounder.
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