Collabfinder is another service to find collaborators.
I tried Cofounderslab.com, Collabfinder and did not find the quality people I was looking for.
Perhaps not surprisingly, HN yielded a much higher level of potential collaborators/co-founders. I spoke with a few folks on here and am impressed. Most prefer working with someone in person.
Many Universities nowadays have plenty of resources to the prospective Entrepreneur. Check out the local business schools to see if they host open innovation days.
If you are looking for contractors to help, ODesk and Elance surprised me with some pretty high quality people, but you have to sift through a lot of applications.
I think the most interesting part of this post's comments is how everyone views bootstrapping differently. In Chobani's case, per the article, they didn't take in any outside equity, but they did take in outside investment. It just happened to be structured as debt.
Nothing wrong with that, just found it interesting. Good reminder that there are a number of different ways to grow an amazing company.
I think this is a great idea and thought of doing this previously in other areas besides fitness. But the obvious challenge to overcome is that you need to find people who are into personal growth, are open-minded about stretching outside of their comfort zone. This can be tough because people will tend to take these types of issues personally. If you can present your message in a way that people can accept, I think it's totally worth doing. Good luck!
I think you bring up a really good point: people do take this type of thing very personally, and react quite negatively if the presentation does not fit their heuristic. I think your insight into presentation is really valuable and I'll definitely give that more focus.
I really appreciate your time and willingness to provide feedback!
Edit:
approximate commute end points
Morning departure times: 8am, 10am
Evening departure times: 2pm, 6pm, 8pm
From Braemar Rd, Oakland, CA 94602, USA
To North Point St San Francisco, CA 94109
My urban driving experience locations are:
In/out of Washington DC 395N from Northern VA
459N Beltway
Richmond/VA Beach I-64
Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Exactly this. It's terribly demoralizing to go through the bs associated with a job search after a failed startup. I would be happy to start something up with one or more cofounders.
What we need is a job placement service for (temporarily) failed entrepreneurs, a support network, and possible more.
Entrepreneurship is like parenthood. It takes doing it to know what it's like, and it's very harsh when there's little to no support.
People who have the guts to start something and have something (scars included) to show have initiative, drive, ambition. They should have no problem finding jobs, support and whatever resource they need.
The perfect job doesn't exist, so I'd recommend finding an outlet for creative self-expression first in your after hours, and quit your job only if you are having health issues related to work.
If your app has the remote possibility that it can be abused by fraudsters, scammers, con people, ask for credit card at the start of the trial. This will save you a lot of hassle later down the road.
Otherwise, you can ask at the end.
Keep in mind that a qualified user will sign up for your service even if you ask for the CC up front. As a business owner, your job is to get users, yes, but also to get paid for your efforts. Hopefully this will help you decide what to do. Remember, it's much easier if you just treat it like a learning experience.
The day-to-day realities of managing and growing a startup are very challenging, especially if you are the sole founder. I've been there in the early days for numerous startups and for myself, and found that most difficult parts are not necessarily related to the business, product, or customers themselves, but rather they are usually emotional in nature, and center around how to stay motivated, continue to get things done and move forward when there's no end in sight. The hardest part is feeling like you're alone, there's no one else who gets it to talk to.
I'm not an investor or startup advisor, but I'd be happy to help you out if you want to work together. My contact is in my handle.
I tried Cofounderslab.com, Collabfinder and did not find the quality people I was looking for.
Perhaps not surprisingly, HN yielded a much higher level of potential collaborators/co-founders. I spoke with a few folks on here and am impressed. Most prefer working with someone in person.
Many Universities nowadays have plenty of resources to the prospective Entrepreneur. Check out the local business schools to see if they host open innovation days.
If you are looking for contractors to help, ODesk and Elance surprised me with some pretty high quality people, but you have to sift through a lot of applications.