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Re:Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding by limedaring on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @04:25PM (#4512988)
I wanted to jump in here and to caution that finding a cofounder with the specific intent of applying for this round of YC would be a bad idea. Keep in mind that a co-founding relationship is very much a relationship, and you have to "date" a bit before you get married — having a startup is like having a child, you want to know a potential cofounder is the right person to found a startup with first.

That said, be inspired to try finding a cofounder now, work with them for a few months and keep S13 in mind — it might all fall into place by the time the next round comes around. And if you can't find a cofounder, don't be afraid of being persistant and just learning the skills necessary to build and launch startup solo, since a great cofounder is likely to come along if you already have an intriguing product launched.

Re:Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding by tersiag on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @07:17PM (#4513801)
Just to add, if you think you can raise your child (startup) alone than don't be afraid to do that either. You'll never know, the right co-founder may be just around the corner, if at all
Re:Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding by limedaring on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @07:22PM (#4513825)
Exactly. I worked on my startup for a little over a year before my current awesome cofounder joined me (approached me since I had already "proven" myself, I wasn't explicitly searching). Big fan of just leaping forward and doing it yourself.

Self-promotion, two articles I wrote on the subject: "I'm a designer who learned Django and launched her first webapp in 6 weeks" http://www.limedaring.com/im-a-designer-who-learned-django-a...

"How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder" http://weddinglovely.com/blog/how-to-survive-as-a-solo-desig...

Re:Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding by bravura on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @04:53PM (#4513153)
I agree completely. Founder dating should take longer than one funding cycle.

I posted this mainly because it was an appropriate parent story, not because I think winter cofounders should do accelerated dating.

Re:Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding by devgutt on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @04:34PM (#4513046)
Agree. Take the wrong co-founder and you will regret for a long time.
Re:Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding by jmspring on Thursday September 13, 2012 @02:14AM (#4515007)
I don't see it as a wholly bad idea -- sometimes things do click. I think it certainly depends on the people involved.

I've thought about applying as a solo-founder (knowing the caveats), but may just continue to use my spare time to flesh things out and target Spring 2013. Assuming a wet winter, that is a good time for getting some serious coding done -- less distraction to want to be outside.

Re:Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding by dinky on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @10:32PM (#4514492)
Also don't be afraid of being persistent in getting feedback on your existing ideas, even if you are a solo founder.

It's probably next to impossible to get early feedback on a YC application but there's now one more way to turn impossible to possible: http://lookapinky.com