I know a lot of people looking for a cofounder but most of them are non-engineers.
My guess is a lot of these sites may have a lot of seekers but very few actually find one. It's a like a dating site where it's mostly men.
Things like meetups, including Startup School could be a good place to get the right people together and just let them get to know each other and discuss ideas.
I was going to make a comment that finding a co-founder is a lot like dating, and that dating web sites have improved (but not completely fixed) the dating process.
Right? Like on a co-founder site you can list you turn-ons and turn-offs, to determine compatability. "Bootstrapping is a turn on.". "Windows is a big turn off."
Then I realized that most couples who met on the internet, much like all other couples: They end up fighting about money, trust, shared responsibility, etc. And, in all likelihood, they separate. And I realized that, in company founding, the co-founder "dating phase" is something that happens WELL before you start a company together. You build trust and a relationship over time.
So perhaps starting a company with someone is more like marriage, but with alimony vesting. It seems like accelerating that process would need a very different approach than fixing the "dating" process.
If you have an idea, please develop as far as you can alone while you're able to do so within your means. Hell anyone can make a prototype in Omnigraffle or Keynote to later pitch the idea. There are lot's of things a non tech founder can do before requiring a cofounder and vice versa. Hopefully while doing so you'll find a person that's a good fit and whom you can trust and respect. And of course, even then create vesting agreements for either a viable but "not too soon" time or based on goals and acomplishments.
Besides respect, friendship gives you trust and commitment. Ideas of venture do change along the way. A friend is committed to you before the idea of a venture came along, hence, he will be flexible with the change in the idea, the company, the profits, etc. On the other hand, a co-founder (who was not your friend) joined you based on the idea (or the money), hence, he will be less flexible when things change (if no friendship develops along the way).
Not exactly the same, but a pretty awesome example of two founders working well together with no prior relationship.
if there's a net positive return on kicking you within the first year, you're either not pulling your weight or your cofounders are acting irrational and will kill the company anyway.
foundrs.com is not the end all of incorporation, it seems to have nothing for "assets". Who owns the code? Author or Company. Who owns the domain? Registrar or Company?
