In the era of the Internet and smartphones, almost every thought could be turned into a startup idea worth billions of dollars. One such idea that was floating around the web and being discussed widely is Tinder For Startups! Looks like, seed funding startup platform Y Combinator (YC) is quite convinced of this idea’s potential to turn into billions of dollars.
Y Combinator has launched its Co-founder matching platform for startup founders who find it tough to find like-minded, equally excited and committed co-founders. It would be made available to all startups across the geographies via Startup School – YC’s extremely popular free online program and community for startup founders.
YC believes that the rising number of solo entrepreneurs in the startup ecosystem has created a need for such a platform.
YC Co-Founder Matching Platform: Big Picture
- Y Combinator Co-founder matching platform allows any startup founder to create his profile in a bid to find one or multiple co-founders.
- Startup Entrepreneurs can put up requests for role-based co-founders selection.
- Any startup founder looking for a co-founder, can signup on the platform and submit his request along with all the necessary personal information to help prospective co-founders to view.
- The person looking for a co-founder has to tell about the preferences, interests and skillsets he is looking for in his co-founder.
- YC’s Startup School team reviews every request and approve them to make it available for all other people in the YC School.
- Once the profile is live, the platform starts suggesting profiles of candidates that closely match your desired co-founder profile. If a seeking co-founder finds any of the suggestions interesting, he/she can send a request along with a personal message.
- If the candidate accepts the request, YC starts matching both the profiles to check the compatibility.
- After few calls, if both the candidates find the match fit, they can go ahead and form a team. In many cases, they also work on a time-bound trial project with clear expectations and goals to vet the compatibility.
- As of today, YC Co-founder matching platform has helped 4,500 founders find matching co-founders.
Food For Thought
There are over 100,000 startup founders who are active in YC’s Startup School. A study highlights that 20% of those startup founders always on the lookout for a perfect co-founder. Another 25% of founders-to-be believe that being solo is preventing them from starting a company full-time.
While the concept looks quite exciting, many experts believe that such a process of finding the right fit founding team member could be tricky. Working with a co-founder is beyond matching skill sets and commitment to work. It’s a long journey ahead, and it’s always a bumpy ride for most startups. Hence, one needs to be mindful and careful while accepting to either be a co-founder or welcome someone as a co-founder. The personal preferences, thought processes and soft skills of each founding team member play a vital role to make their startup a success.
How appealing and successful Co-founder matching platforms like the one launched by Y Combinator would be, only time will tell.
