HACKER Q&A
📣 moomoo11

How do you find startup co-founders when you're older?


Most of my friends are not interested in working on ideas/startup because they have families and cushy jobs. I don't blame them, but that leaves me feeling quite alone.

I have a good job as well, but I have an itch to work on something I care about. Whether that is my idea or someone else's that resounds with my values and interests, I think it would be a more meaningful use of my time.

Most founders seem to be so young, like in their 20s or in college. At my age, and with my lack of ever founding a company, how do I overcome this hurdle?

Any advice for me? Any anecdotes? Thanks!

  👤 defeomike Accepted Answer ✓
It's a long game, but... One approach would be to join a fast growing company which is scaling up to close to 1,000 employees. There tend to be a lot of entrepreneurial folks at that profile of company and they start to desire starting something from scratch vs. building the bureaucracy at their current company.

So, if you join that company, you can make it your goal to meet as many folks as possible and try to build relationships with people who are entrepreneurial. 2ish year commitment, but my guess is that this is one of the higher probability routes to your goal.

Source: I found my co-founder at this profile of company (though it wasn't my primary goal joining the company, and I was there >4y)

👤 OJFord
I can't recall if it's a regular (like Who's hiring/looking to be hired) but I've definitely seen 'seeking co-founder' type posts here.

I think if it were me I'd be subtler about it though, mention you're looking for help in a Show HN - or not even that but give contact info and get talking to anyone that shows an interest.

Also, do you definitely need/want a co-founder, vs. worried about early hires? I suppose perhaps you mean you feel you need help so early that it needs to be a massive equity zero salary type deal (making employment close to impossible and also widely illegal).

I'm a young non-founder though, don't listen to me.

👤 DamonHD
I found my last co-founder (or rather he found me) at a tech event that I was exhibiting at. We were both in our 40s at the time.