Co-founders, like women, are often found randomly.

I found two of mine on Hacker News. They rock.

Two of whom? Women or co-founders? :)

Why does it have to be one or the other? :P

I don't think it has to be random. I meet most potential partners through organizations. Try a organization like the Junior Chamber of Commerce. Dallas, where I'm from, has one of the oldest chapters in the nation. You could also try Startup Happy Hours and design groups like Refresh. You've got to get out and network.

How exactly did that happen?

Out of curiosity, why does it matter where you meet a potential co-founder? I assume you'd still want to talk / try out a few projects first or whatever; how does the way you made the contact count?

My own personal opinion, from direct experience, is that a co-founder is ideally someone that you met non-randomly. You have known or worked with them previously, or have a contact in common that can vouch highly for them.

Of course, you could meet a future co-founder on a 'dating' site, but I would still want to get to know that person over a period of time.

How a person deals with the stresses of making business decisions, handling money and investments, and general product management are not something you get an optimal feel for in a short period of time.

I am sure that there are several people who have met and co-founded a business in a short time window and been happy with the outcome. Just like I know people from arranged marriages or who were married a week after they met, and they are quite happy. But not many people would recommend that approach as having a high probability for success.

Thanks for the feedback. I think of this less as a "dating site", but more of a filter to help bring together like-minded people who are interested in accomplishing the same or similar goals. Similar to how gdgt brings people together based on the gadgets they own/want, I'd like to bring people together based on ideas they have. Things like the speed-dating stuff would just be ways to accelerate some of those connections that would have eventually happened organically.

And yes, Ning is not ideal. But for now, I want to put the maximum effort on having great conversations and getting the right people together rather than having the best technological solution. Depending on the feedback I get and the needs of the users, moving off Ning could definitely be a future move.