No idea is stupid... just keep trying and learn from your mistakes.
I think you might be on the right track if you're thinking of new ways to find people to co-found with. Cofoundr exists, and News.YC exists, but have you ever wondered why people still complain about finding cofounders? Obviously, the problem still exists.
Some thoughts:
- Instead of a demo day in your area, build a site where its easy for hackers to upload their Web apps and show them off to all the other users. You pay for the hosting and handle all the tedious server stuff, and I simply upload my code, click "Go", and the app goes live for a day or two. Users can upvote the projects that they think are the coolest, and hackers accumulate popularity points.
- Maintain a "Top-List" of "best entrepreneurs", ranked by the number of votes that each person gets on Demo Days. Perhaps categorize this by the type of product each entrepreneur is interested in building. So if there is a Top 10 list for entrepreneurs building stuff that has something to do with mobile software, and I'm #2 on the list and you are #1, hey that looks like a promising team. At least, it's better than going blindly.
- In addition to the Demo Day software, build a Web app that makes it easy for entrepreneurs/programmers to keep track of their hobby projects online and constantly display them to the world for everyone to see. Imagine a place where thousands of hackers all have their hobby stuff online. So I do a search for "mobile software" on the site, and I find 10 people that did some hacks for fun and are showing off their work. If I'm looking for a cofounder, I would contact the person who I thought had the best work.
Maybe the 3 things I listed here are crap, but my point is that you should constantly reiterate on a seemingly "dumb idea" because eventually it might turn into a winner.
Make sure what you are doing is SOLVING a user problem, not giving them a WAY to solve their problem. If you are making a site to help entrepreneurs find co-founders, you'd better deliver on that promise: if people that use your site can't find a co-founder within 3 weeks of trying, they are not going to come back again.
I have a feeling that the pay dating sites must work better and have more attractive people than the free ones, but I haven't yet been willing to pay to find out.
I think you might be on the right track if you're thinking of new ways to find people to co-found with. Cofoundr exists, and News.YC exists, but have you ever wondered why people still complain about finding cofounders? Obviously, the problem still exists.
Some thoughts:
- Instead of a demo day in your area, build a site where its easy for hackers to upload their Web apps and show them off to all the other users. You pay for the hosting and handle all the tedious server stuff, and I simply upload my code, click "Go", and the app goes live for a day or two. Users can upvote the projects that they think are the coolest, and hackers accumulate popularity points.
- Maintain a "Top-List" of "best entrepreneurs", ranked by the number of votes that each person gets on Demo Days. Perhaps categorize this by the type of product each entrepreneur is interested in building. So if there is a Top 10 list for entrepreneurs building stuff that has something to do with mobile software, and I'm #2 on the list and you are #1, hey that looks like a promising team. At least, it's better than going blindly.
- In addition to the Demo Day software, build a Web app that makes it easy for entrepreneurs/programmers to keep track of their hobby projects online and constantly display them to the world for everyone to see. Imagine a place where thousands of hackers all have their hobby stuff online. So I do a search for "mobile software" on the site, and I find 10 people that did some hacks for fun and are showing off their work. If I'm looking for a cofounder, I would contact the person who I thought had the best work.
Maybe the 3 things I listed here are crap, but my point is that you should constantly reiterate on a seemingly "dumb idea" because eventually it might turn into a winner.