But if you don’t have a strong professional network, finding a good co-founder for your startup can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are multiple websites where you can find a partner for your startup.
Here, we mention seven places to find a co-founder for your startup online.
1. Startup School
Startup School is a project of Y Combinator that offers free online training to startup founders. With a worldwide community of more than 230,000 entrepreneurs, it makes it easy for everyone to find the right co-founder for their startups.
Startup School has a dedicated co-founder matching platform. To find a co-founder for your startup, create a profile on Startup School, filling up some basic details about your interests, skills, experience, location, etc.
If you already have a startup/idea, it asks you the details of your idea/startup. Otherwise, you can enter some more details about your skills and experience so that other co-founders can know more about you. It then lets you submit the profile for review.
Once approved, it matches you with suitable entrepreneurs. If you like any of them, you can invite them to connect. To date, the Startup School co-founder matching platform has helped more than 9000 entrepreneurs in finding a co-founder.
2. CoFoundersLab
CoFoundersLab claims to be the world’s largest network of entrepreneurs. With CoFoundersLab, you can find not only like-minded co-founders but also advisors, mentors, and investors.
Having a 600,000+ strong community of entrepreneurs, CoFoundersLab uses AI to match you with the best and like-minded people. Moreover, it allows you to expand your network through its discussion forum and regular webinars. You can also search and connect with other entrepreneurs directly through CoFoundersLab.
CoFoundersLab has a great learning center to equip founders with the necessary skills. Though the basic membership of CoFoundersLab is free, you can get more features and benefits with the premium plan ($15 per month).
3. StartHawk
Using their search algorithm, StartHawk finds the ideal people for you from its large network of entrepreneurs.
To find a co-founder, create your profile on StartHawk, adding details about yourself and your idea if you have one. On the Find a Co-Founder Page, you can find hundreds of entrepreneurs who are in the same boat as you—looking for a co-founder.
To view more relevant people, you can refine your search results using filters. If you find a potential co-founder, you can add them to your contacts or leave them a message. Similarly, other people can also find and reach out to you. StartHawk also has a forum called The Nest to help you discuss business problems and find solutions.
You can get started for free, but StartHawk also offers a Pro plan that costs around $20 per month. With this plan, you get unlimited messaging, more visibility in search results, and partner discounts.
4. FoundersList
FoundersList is another platform that can help you connect with startup founders. Through this platform, you can find your co-founders, connect with other entrepreneurs, join discussion groups, and get deals.
To find a co-founder, create a profile and go to its Co-founders page. Here you can see the list of people looking for co-founders along with the description of their startup and requirements. You can refine the results by location, business stage, and co-founder type.
FoundersList has numerous groups based on location, interest, and industry, where you can take part in discussions and widen your network. To meet with startup founders in person, you can view the events happening near you on its Startup Events Page. This way, you can get to know the person better and decide if they’re the right partner for you.
FoundersList lets you set up email alerts when a new listing for a co-founder gets posted. Best of all, FoundersList is completely free.
5. Indie Hackers
Indie Hackers is a popular online community of entrepreneurs. Among the other things, Indie Hackers has a group aimed at helping people find their business partners, called Looking to Partner Up.
This group has more than 16,000 members, so you can find a lot of recent and relevant posts of people looking to partner up. Many people here are specifically looking for technical founders, so if you’ve got the technical expertise, you have the edge here.
Alternatively, you can also create your own post, mentioning the details of your startup and your ideal co-founder.
Considering the number of active entrepreneurs on Indie Hackers, you have a good chance of finding a co-founder here.
6. Reddit
Reddit has multiple communities where you can find your co-founder. The most notable one of them is r/cofounder, which only purpose is to connect entrepreneurs with partners.
It has over 31,000 members and is a quite active community. This subreddit has strict rules, which reduces the chances of fake or non-serious people. Moreover, a clear title format helps you skim through the unrelated posts and find the relevant opportunities.
Some other subreddits you can try are r/Entrepreneur, r/EntrepreneurRideAlong, and r/SideProject. Since these subreddits aren’t focused on finding a co-founder, it’s best to create a post yourself and ask interested entrepreneurs to contact you.
7. LinkedIn
LinkedIn, being a professional networking website, should be a part of your search when looking for a co-founder. Other than your existing LinkedIn network, there are several groups where you can find a partner for your startup.
A couple of groups made especially for this purpose are:
Ideas Seeking Co-Founder: Here, you can find posts of people who have an idea/startup but need a partner. CoFounder: This group too is dedicated to finding co-founders.
Other than these groups, there are hundreds of location, industry, or role-based LinkedIn groups where you can find a suitable partner with little networking.
Find the Right Co-Founder for Your Startup
Having the right co-founder and team relieves you of a lot of responsibilities and increases your chances of success. But this happens only when you pick the right person as your co-founder.
With the websites and forums mentioned above, you can easily find the best-suited co-founder for your startup.
