Looking for a co-founder can be one of the most challenging tasks an entrepreneur can take on. You’re not only looking for a thought partner, but also someone who understands your vision and complements your skills. Seems like an easy task, right? We met with a few FFA members who are actually looking for co-founders to understand what’s important to them. Here’s what they have to say.
(And if anything here strikes a chord, or makes you think of someone in your network, be sure to let the founder know!)
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Joyce Wu, Founder of Cluck
Tell us a little about your company and what you’re doing?
Cluck is a browser extension that crowdsources responses for apartment listings on Craigslist. Essentially it gives Craigslist users a way to warn each other about scams and trade information about listings, just like they do on Amazon, Yelp, or other review websites. There are already many websites that help users find apartments, but the biggest problem that exists in this industry is: scam and fake postings. Our goal is to eliminate it.
What are you looking for in a co-founder?
I’ve been a software developer for over ten years, so I’m not a salesperson. I’m basically looking for someone who can help us expand the product, build partnerships and bring Cluck to more users. I’m also looking for another engineer who can help us build more features for our customers.
You can contact Joyce here.
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Hannah Lidman, Founder of Dayheart
Tell us a little about your company and what you’re doing?
DayHeart is a two-sided marketplace that allows parents to discover child care options that meet their family’s needs and values, and also allows providers to market their services and availability directly to their customers. Finding childcare can be a daunting task for many parents and we want to use technology to make this process easier, while also supporting child care providers. Technology plays such an important role in our daily lives, why can’t we use it to help solve childcare industry issues?
What are you looking for in a co-founder?
We’re looking for a technical cofounder with full stack experience who understands the value of DayHeart and how revolutionary this could be for the childcare industry. The biggest challenge for us right now is getting a minimum viable product developed to test. We’ve seen incredible support and need in the community. Now we need to build the idea from ground up.
You can contact Hannah here.
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Anne Retterer, Founder of Mindspand
Tell us a little about your company and what you’re doing?
Our mission is to help individuals grow their mind and expand their worlds with learning. We want to make it easier for people to discover a variety of different courses in the community and even online. Our inspiration stemmed from the moment when I realized how difficult it can be to find a course in your community. Even if you Google what you’re looking for, there are so many elements like timelines, prerequisites and individual applications that come into play. On the other hand, providers are always looking for students — Our goal is to make this discovery process easy for both sides.
What are you looking for in a co-founder?
I’m looking for a thought partner who can bring technical skills to the table. Along with this, someone who shares my level of accountability and commitment to this industry. Because our product touches both supply and demand, I definitely want to bring someone in who can help us build the front end of what the product looks like to the world, while connecting it to the backend. We want to be the voice of a trusted source, so how do we make this a fun and delightful product for customers? I want a partner who can help us solve this.
You can contact Anne here.
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Bei-Jing Guo, founder of Fashionality
Tell us a little about your company and what you’re doing?
We’re a Seattle based technology startup with a vision to provide a digital stylist for busy women. In today’s world being fashionable requires not just time but also money — that doesn’t make it very accessible to everyone. Our platform uses AI and machine learning to recommend fashion decisions for all women. We target busy and professional women who might not have the time to always think about what to wear every day — that’s where our product comes in.
What are you looking for in a co-founder?
I’ve spent over 15 years as an engineer so I’m very familiar with building the tech side of the product. I’m looking for a partner who has consumer and/or retail experience and who can help us connect the product to more consumers. I’ve built the MVP and am successfully testing this across Seattle. I’m looking for a thought partner who has the business development and marketing experience to help us build partnerships and find more customers.
You can contact Bei-Jing here.
