FWIW: Keep the "cofounders" to a minimum, my choice is ONE. This is not for greed but for focus and unity in vision. Feel free to offer people all the perks you want, but try to keep the steering-wheel in as few hands as possible.

[Edit: I can understand why a VC might be interested in having multiple cofounders, and aside from the obvious diversity in opinion, VCs might also be interested in having a team that might be easier to break up at the right point; paying out the least interested cofounder early leaves more for them. If you're self-funded hire others.]

very good point. I am surprised by the emphasis people (VCs/YC) put on multiple co-founders. I think it increases the risk of company failing because co-founders didn't get along well at a later stage.

hey! thanks for that link.

CollabFinder seems good. I just signed up. The message boards seem to be filled too. nice!

But I think someone should come up with a site for entrepreneurs/developers/designers like speed-dating. Maybe based on online chat... like just keep changing the person you are chatting with every 5 min. That's like giving a person 5 minutes to explain himself and understand the other and hit it off. :)

I really like your idea of speed dating idea applied to cofounders.

well, if you like to work on it, I would be glad to describe the idea to you.

P.S: I would really like to see something like this

http://news.ycombinator.com ?

I think the best way might be to post here looking for someone with free time and an interest.

Anyway, I happen to meet that description and have been looking for something new to start. I have a few ideas floating around in my head, shoot me an email if your interested.

Are you in the bay area?

Also what's your area of expertise: developer/designer/marketing etc

mine is engineering/product

Yeah, it's called the local user's group for the technology of your choice.

Worked for me.

This one seems decent (aside from collabfinder): http://programmermeetdesigner.com/

Really, it's hard to make a commitment without doing some side projects with an individual or KNOWING them. There are a lot of ways to get scared.

I feel you can't force co-founders or look at it from a traditional standpoint. It just happens. No exact formula. Hacker News probably works best so far for this: whether it's a hacker or biz focused co-founder.

If you're in the NYC area next week, stop by Hackers & Founders: http://anyvite.com/events/home/vnq9pdylxo

http://partnerup.com, but beware incessant customer retention spam.

The problem with http://collabfinder.com/, http://programmermeetdesigner.com/, http://cofoundr.com, http://partnerup.com is that they seem like job boards. I'm not looking for an employee to execute my idea.

I want to discuss ideas with them and agree together on what we want to work on.

I'm looking for a co founder who is willing to share some of risk of founding a startup. They may contribute capital, programming skills, design skills, but it's really the startup mindset that's most important. That's what makes them different from an employee.

I think these sorts of sites are the best you're going to do if you nobody you already know fits the bill and hence you and your potential cofounder are starting out as strangers. The qualities that you're (rightly) looking for are much more easily selected for among people that you already know personally. Meatspace is your best bet, news.yc is a distant second, and partnerup and the like are third.

I guess you are right. Most people I know arent startup types and are satisfied in their job. The startup types I know have their own startup or are working in a startup.

I'm trying to find startup types who are looking to start a startup.

Hacker News: attend the meetups in your area, talk on #startups, be sociable, Ask HN.

How does one "ask HN" to find a co-founder in a way that is acceptable to this community? Can I really make a post saying something like "My early-stage, pre-funding, revenue-generating startup is looking for a technical co-founder"? I thought that sort of post wasn't allowed here, except by Y Combinator companies?

Try http://younoodle.com