Good ways to find startup partners?

Question

What are some good ways for a developer to find quality partners for a startup venture? Specifically, technical guru with business ideas looking for a business person, graphics person?

Best web site?
Best other methods?

Answer 1

Although I've not had personal experience with this sort of thing, LinkedIn seems like it might be a good place to start.

Answer 2

I see you're in the United States. Check with your local chamber of commerce and see what they know about startup incubators in the area. Often these are run by a university although some will be independent. The other good advice is to network, network, network. Go to technology events, user groups, local conferences, etc. Expand your circle of contacts and be honest about what you're looking for.

Answer 3

• Attend entrepreneurial events in your city. Often, these events will have Idea People, Technical People, and Investors. You all wear name tags and meet others. (Have an elevator pitch ready!)
• If you already have someone in mind (for example, someone who runs a blog, or makes insightful comments on one), never hesitate to ask them directly.
• If you're interested in meeting new people, networking is key. Be open with people about what talent you're looking for, and ask people to connect you to their contacts

Answer 4

I've had an idea for an online community that would be focused on connecting people with projects - whether for entrepreneurial efforts, or even more low-key projects (say, an innovative art installation, or a book author looking for an illustrator). Participants would indicate their skills, and project people would search for people with specific skills. The website would facilitate, but not be legally responsible for, people establishing partnerships.

If anyone thinks this sounds interesting, let me know!

Answer 5

Network. It may seem like old advice, but it's what works.

Become active in your local community - become active in the larger community. Go to users groups meetings, find entrepreneur meetups or other groups. Go to conferences and seminars. If you can, present so people learn who you are and what you know. Find events that attract the kinds of people you want to meet - cocktail receptions or awards ceremonies.

In the Philly area, there are conferences (Emerging Tech, CPOSC, Chariot SOlutions Cloud Computing, etc) and groups/associations (Java Users Group, Philly Startup Leaders, the Philly Entrepreneur Meetup, Eastern Technology Council) that I've found to be invaluable. Go to them, talk and interact with people - especially think about how you can help them - even when there is no clear way for them to reciprocate, connect them with other people, take people to lunch. You'll start to recognize who you want to know and who knows the people you want to know.

Network.

Answer 6

I would check out the ycombinator list Hacker News. You'll often find people demoing their startups there as well as looking for talent. I'm sure you could toss your pitch there and get a few responses.

Ycombinator will also give you basic funding if this is something you want to pursue. They offer $5k + $5k per developer for a 3 month development period (I believe that's the gist of things). But you also need to be accepted by them and be prepared to re-locate near their offices.

Answer 7

If you're looking for online resources, you might consider http://partnerup.com/. http://meetup.com also has entrepreneurial groups.

In the end, I'd always opt for people I know, respect, and trust.

Answer 8

Contact me... Go to my blog and do it.

I would LOVE to be in a start up! I got a few ideas I am currently rolling with too which will hopefully make some good headway in the world.

Answer 9

I would say there are really two methods: networking, and having a working demo.

As many others have noted here, networking is extremely important. However, I think there are a few exceptions to this, namely social networking websites, which I think should generally be avoided. Not that there's anything wrong with them necessarily, but rather, it will be very difficult for you to find people willing to make a definite commitment through the internet. The fact is, most developers have lots of ideas of their own, and it's hard to convince people that they should help you out with your idea instead of working on their own. In my experience, it's even harder to do this with someone who you are only acquainted with online, since the level of personal communication is always going to be diminished.

The other big factor, assuming this is achievable, is to produce a working demo or first-draft of your product. The disadvantage here is that you would be working alone, and possibly for a very long time, but the advantages are twofold. First, it will help to show potential partners that you already have some momentum and progress, which is going to be a big concern for someone who you are trying to convince to work with you fulltime on this project. Second, it will increase the visibility of your idea by helping you to find a partner who perhaps shares a similar idea, but hasn't actually started coding yet. It's much easier (and more tempting) to influence the direction of a new project than to start your own from scratch.

Also, you may discover along the way that some VC is interested in your idea, and ends up contacting you as a potential partner instead. Again, here where a very simple but persuasive demo would go a long way.

Answer 10

You may want to give StartupAgents a try. It is a startup itself which aims at connecting entrepreneurs to people with talents. From their about page:

StartupAgents is a matching service dedicated to helping startup companies worldwide find the talent they need to build next generation products and services. Our service provides both companies and individuals the ability to create detailed profiles that allow for a faster more successful matchmaking process.

Answer 11

Don't. You can learn the business aspects yourself and outsource the graphic design. A partner should provide more value than business expertise or graphic design. They would also need to be someone you fully trust, so I'd be very wary of partnering with someone you barely know.

Answer 12

The quality of the relationship with this partner is far more critical than their technical skills.

The critical things the partner needs to bring to the table are:

• They're smart

• They love the product more than they love themselves (and their own ego.) They care about the product more than how much money you'll make, who gets credit, who's "right", etc.

• Trust.

• Emotional support. Who else do you get to complain to when things look darkest? Who else would you most want to share the success with?

Answer 13

To summarize what everyone was trying to get to:

Be social (possibly networking events or conferences, or simply the right bars and parties) and find a like-minded individual whom you can work with, because chemistry is important. I've personally been in a startup where we had the wrong guy, and it was the kiss of death, so meet many people, and meet them in depth.

Answer 14

I'd agree that getting out there and networking is critical. I have also found that most people tend to have a particular strength, whether it's ideas, marketing, or the technical side. However, this can often mean that they are missing a key person, or skill set to start out.

Having started up a couple of companies, I also find that there are no shortage of firms out there who you can pay to plug the gap, but they simply cost too much for many people.

Because of this I have started a site where like minded entrepreneurs can link up, creating a partnership that will move their ideas forward. It's called StartupPartners.org - take a look, you might find the person you need.

Answer 15

2 more resources I can add are: craigslist and startuply.com

Answer 16

I've had luck on LinkedIn, not just blasting out messages, but join a few relevant groups and sometimes reach out to connect to someone who might share interests. I actually have a colleague who brought in their business partner from LinkedIn.

Answer 17

Take a look at this new start up www.mergeskills.com. They will match you with a potential partner based on your specific criteria.

Answer 18

You guys have to look at http://www.builditwith.me Its so simple and brilliant.

No registration, its just 2 pages in all and the site is really well designed!