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Ask HN: How do you pitch yourself as a co-founder to a young startup?

3 points| halfimmortal | 3 years ago

After spending a decade marketing other SaaS products and taking them to millions in ARR, I want to build and grow my own SaaS.

I'm looking for early SaaS products in the market or tech co-founders to join as a co-founder and grow the company.

If you were in my boat, how would go about finding your co-founder? Also, how would you go about pitching yourself for a co-founder role at pre-revenue startups?

4 comments

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ogarten|3 years ago

YC's startupschool has co-founder matching. Advantage: people there actively look to find a co-founder.

Besides that, network. Go to startup events in your community. Go to <insert your favorite tech stack> meetups to find out if anyone has any needs. I think it will be very difficult because co-founders have to trust in each other and trust only comes over time with personal meetings and working together.

Regarding your pitch: What can you offer? Are you a tech person? Can you do marketing? Have you gained experience in other startups? How big is your network in their field?

There are the kind of things I would be interested if I were looking for co-founder.

halfimmortal|3 years ago

That's super helpful, thank you! I'm a SaaS marketer with over 10 years experience growing SaaS companies from $500k to $5M ARR. So I can definitely add value.

I hear you that finding a co-founder is based a lot on trust over time with a person. My issue is that I've worked remotely almost all my life, so while I have built relationships with team members, it's hard to sustain those cross-border relationships over time.

brudgers|3 years ago

If I were in your boat, I would talk to people I knew.

I mean if you have been kicking around for a decade, you have met a lot of people.

On the other hand, if you approached me as a stranger (not that you would) my first thought would be why aren't they working with someone they know?

Which is a round about way of asking, are you the kind of person other people should trust?

Because co-owning a company depends on trust.

Specifically the trust that the other person wants to make you rich.

Good luck.

halfimmortal|3 years ago

Makes sense, thank you for sharing your thoughts.