We've been running the site for about two years now, since we launched it here: …

Thank you so much for the reply. Can you please add a search or filtering? I don't want to keep clicking "next"

First of all, thanks for building it and as a user, the product is solid that matches the needs well. Note that I used 'matches' not 'solves' as the problem itself is so messy and difficult that a product like this could help but fundamentally it requires two people working together, which is super hard. My way of somehow hacking it is to come in with low or no expectation. There are otherwise tons of great people on YC co-founder matching site, and almost all conversations I've had were excellent. Even if it didn't help me find a cofounder, I still rate the product highly.

One thing that could improve is that it seems to filter on age and location. It should filter on specific skills.

I've used it and met some interesting folks; some whom I still chat with. One whom I seriously considered working with. But ultimately no co-founders. I think that there are different modalities for the folks on YC Co-Founder Matching and that's OK, IMO. Like andrewfromx mentioned in a comment below, it would be great to be able to somehow identify and filter by those modalities. My sense is that there are some folks on there who would make great "first hires", but not necessarily "co-founder". There are some users on the platform who seem interested in joining a startup in the early stages (who should probably instead be on workatastartup.com instead) rather than actually co-founding a company.

it’d be great if you could find a way to screen out “lurkers” and “shoppers” … in other words, people who just like the idea of having a startup

Hi, I have been using it since launch, have reviewed ~100s-1000s of profiles, have talked with ~50-80 people, did a try-out with 2, for 6 months each. (Background is: I am a technical founder with 6 prior startups, 2 of which were successful; still want to build something, looking for good ideas, and great execution people) I'm still actively looking for high-quality cofounders to join, and will take anyone who jumps the (high) bar I've set that is required to make a startup a success. However, it is extremely frustrating to work with the site for a mix of cultural, and UX issues reasons. Specifically: * Establish a culture of people sharing both their ideas, and the progress they made so far on the project. If the "idea" section is empty / "will discuss on a phone call" / NDAs, that's a no-go from the start. You might want to add a text in the "idea" section of the profile builder, that…

> We are very actively working on the co-founder matching site and would love to hear from people who have used it - what your experience was and how we could make it better. I used it a year and a few months ago. I'm a technical person with 10 years working in startups. I treated it the way I'd treat a job search etc. I matched with ~150 people. Talked to ~50 people. Got close/did trial project with 3. Did a deal with 1. Raised a VC pre-seed (similar process) and have had a wild journey since. Some learnings: * Met some really cool people, some amazing talent on the platform. * Know what you're looking for (e.g. complimentary skillset, company stage). Matching experience was key - didn't want too little (still making mistakes) but not too much (wanted an equal relationship, not a minor founder role). * Co-founding is a relationship IMO. 'Matching' is just dating, 'trail project' is movi…

Anecdotally I think some training on preseed/seed funding may be beneficial. I’ve met more than a few pre seed folks who are focused on equity retention. This is all well and good for a few exceptional founders, and they are welcome to seek out a compatible match. However there should be an asterisk on when people are looking for a founding engineer or otherwise giving out marginal equity. I had a few such meetings which were educational- but ultimately non productive as it would not make financial sense for me to join a seed stage firm for less than a 50% stake. Of course the discussion is different for later stage firms. That being said the speed dating events were fantastic.