For immigrants like me, who didn't grow up in the US, the "existing network" is largely absent / non-existent. So we always have difficulty trying to find co-founders as the people you can trust the most in your network are your "butt buddies" (in hindi we call them Chaddi-dost) and they are not here.
And most engineers, esp. technical engineers are introverts and do not like going to networking events.
My Hindi is far too limited to be sure, but I don't think that translation has the same connotation at all. Just fyi!
That said, just because I grew up in US and my butt buddies are here doesn’t mean they’re good cofounders. I’m regularly the only entrepreneurial person in my various friend groups.
Or, I suppose, 'BFF', but perhaps not even teenage girls can bring themselves to use that seriously today (I suspect it's 'so last year').
Not every engineer is an introvert, and cofounders need to wear multiple hats, so you're better getting a 75% engineer who is more versatile.
Attached at the hip is more like it. These are guys you grow up with and know their darkest secrets :)
There are INCREDIBLE talented people out there that for several reasons never start a company.
Some of those reasons could be the lack of opportunities or because they just didn't have the chance of working on something cool or with the right people.
Why would anyone join? Basically for the same reason, in our case, we are a little ahead in terms of funding and customers, but as someone said: " 'A players' like to play with 'A players'".
(yes I am looking, I have a small product ready for customers built with the exit intention of selling the product to another company at a later time. Basically the idea was to make a small business focused infrastructure toolbox. The logging product is working. I think chat and filesharing could be real easy wins. Slyops dot net. Contact link there works.)
but as someone who effectively has been working alone as a freelancer for most of my adult life i simply don't have any coworkers or work friends.
and don't get me started on networking. i wasted lots of time at so called networking events, to the point that when i moved to a smaller city the lack of events felt like a relief.
therefore my only chance to find partners has been random connections.
so far the results were not good. the biggest obstacle being lack of funds.
i can't afford to work for equity only if i join someone else, and i can't afford to pay someone if they were to join me.
no choice but to keep trying
most startups fail. the likelyhood that the earned equity will be enough to kickstart my own project years later is to small to be worth the risk.
if i join someone for equity, then it has to be a project that i am actually interested in enough that i'd start it on my own if i had the opportunity.
so it's not my project vs your project but it is my interests vs your interests. if our interests align, i'll join you, even for equity only.
however at the end of the day i still have to put food on the table, so if you are looking for 100% commitment, i simply can't afford that.
i was part of a startup based on that premise. it failed because noone could put in enough time, and the founder rejected the idea to finance ourselves with consulting work believing that if we did that we'd never get to work on the startup because we'd be busy building up a consulting firm.
i don't believe that's true, because somehow i manage to make a living from consulting and still have time to work on my project.
it's all about priorities.
My cofounder and I didn't know each other at the outset we worked together for 6 months before deciding to commit full time and draw up paperwork, etc.
Maybe you want to find someone who's a good culture fit with you, and do a small project together. If it goes well, keep going, if not, stop there. So it really is more like dating than marrying.
But really, are we all not just 'absolute strangers', 'random individuals from the internet', with a 'random early stage startup'... until we're not?
Our incredibly finite networks only form one way—by meeting new people—which has to happen somehow. Clearly there is a mutual vetting process before agreeing to work together; and extending beyond one's current network doesn't necessarily represent a failure of one (or one's current network) to satisfy each relationship. See also Joy's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy's_law_(management)
A random person with the right skillset could create a wonderful parnership not possible unless you have a big network.
But what does it explain if founder has a small network or is unlucky that good candidates are currently busy?
Who is really willing to bring on an absolute stranger to their early-stage startup and heap a bunch of responsibility (and equity) on them? It seems a random individual from the internet would be very likely worse than no partner at all, considering you're pretty well locked together and you have no idea how that person handles conflict or pressure or really anything.
And why would one be interested in joining a random early stage startup if the existing founder can't recruit a cofounder from their network? Doesn't that tell you something right there?