Ask HN: Co-Founder(s). Do I need any? How would I even find them?

8•bhollan•4h ago

I'm a technologist and have experience in academia, private, and now public sector work. I had an idea stewing in the back of my mind for about a year and it became 'fully-formed' enough to be a proof-of-concept such that I filed a provisional patent a few months ago. At this point, I don't want to quit my day job (federal agency, GS11, but have an in to be GS15 within 3 years). But I really want my idea to succeed (or at the very least, see the light of day). I have some savings piled up, but I'm hesitant to spend it on 'grown-up' patent papers yet. I also already have 3 other 'side gigs' (not to mention 4 kids and a blushing bride) that take up more than most of my time. How would I even find someone that I could trust enough to help me take my idea and hit a home run with it?

I don't want to talk about the details of my invention. I did talk to a patent attorney that's done a couple dozen startups through their firm though. He said I could probably get $20k-$50k in seed money for it. It's not a "better mousetrap", it's more a "new thing" that's never existed before (but also never really 'needed to' before).

Do I NEED a co-founder, or can I 'slow-walk' launching a business based solely on a new gizmo? I'm not very good at social media/marketing, which is where I think my gizmo would thrive the most (but that's purely a guess). I feel like if I could find the perfect person, it really could explode, but I have literally not even the faintest clue where/how to start that. Am I an employer all-of-a-sudden even though I have no revenue to pay salaries?

Somebody heard that I had invented this thing and they asked me, "So, I hear you're an inventor?" And I kind of stammered and said "well.... it was an accident. I didn't mean to, I promise." This was mostly to be funny/silly, not that I don't believe in the idea. But I know this sort of 'startup/founder(s)/seed-money' thing is HN's bread-and-butter, so I at least thought I'd ask.

Comments

dabinat•3h ago

You don’t need a co-founder, but doing everything yourself while you have another job will be slow. Competitors may be able to get around your patent and scale up faster than you.

Having someone else also means you’re accountable to them, which puts a bit more urgency on getting things done, in addition to being a sounding-board for your ideas.

skyberrys•2h ago

You only have 12 months after filing the provisional application to get the full patent application in. You might not need a cofounder, but you definitely need a plan with a timeline.

If it's a choice between being too slow, losing the market timing and the provisional patent protections or finding a co-founder, then find a cofounder. Is it more work to find the cofounder vs develop it yourself? You can try posting a linkedIn job ad for a cofounder, someone found me that way, and yes it was upfront about the salary situation but there are people out there who might be in the right circumstances to take you up on what you can bring to the table.

d--b•2h ago

Don't listen to those other people who tell you you can do it alone. You can't.

You have 4 kids, there is no way you have that kind of time.

Regarding the patent: I know this is going to sound harsh, but what is likely is that it's going to be harder to find someone who finds your invention cool than to defend against anyone who might want to steal it.

Patents defend technical inventions useful in the industry, a social media gizmo not so much. Filing a patent will take a lot of time, and you won't have the money to litigate anyone who steals it anyways.

In your position, I would just throw the idea out there, make a kickstarter campaign or something. Try and get anyone interested. If there is interest, then it's easier to find a cofounder who might want to be in with you on this.

There is a good chance that the kickstarter result is a giant "meh" from the world. And you can go back raising your children and chase that GS15 (Idk what that is).

Also if you do this just to scratch your own itch, build the stuff just for yourself (LLMs and 3D printers make everything quite simple these days), and post a youtube video about it.

Anyways my take is:

- you need a cofounder to launch something

- but you need to validate the idea before finding a cofounder.

also don't be greedy with your cofounder, split 50 50 or close to that, it may be your idea, but you can't do it without the other person.

bhollan•23m ago

Well, the patent attorney was very clear that a kickstarter (at least any that offer anything remotely like a 'sale' or anything) 'voids' a lot of the protections of the provisional, and maybe even the full patent.

ra0x3•2h ago

You don't NEED one, but you probably SHOULD have one. It just helps speed things up immensely and lowers the chances that you'll burnout.

"If you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, go together."

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