Do you have an idea already or are you looking to be a technical co-founder? What I would say is that if you have the idea, share it to capture the imagination and attention of other potential co-founders.
I too have used CoFoundersLab.com with mild success. If you have not only an idea, but something you can show / share with people, I can't recommend AngelList highly enough for finding other startup folks - their recruiting tool is by far the best I've seen for early stage companies.
Finally, if you're a great developer and looking for an idea to work on, we'd be thrilled to talk with you at founders@goodapril.com - read more at http://angel.co/goodapril
In my experience as a startup founder thus far, you may be over-thinking this one. Your lawyers are a valuable source of information and reaction, and help provide some guidance, but they aren't making or breaking your day-to-day existence as an entrepreneur.
Having just gone through a long selection process to find our attorneys, the combination of things we were looking for:
1) Deferral of fees. There are some reasonable arguments that this can actually be counter to your best interests, but if you're bootstrapping and don't have a big nest egg in the bank, it's hard to choose someone who doesn't
2) Affordable rates. Because even if fees are deferred, you will ultimately have to pay them
3) Relevant expertise. I would argue that this has more to do with startups similar to you (e.g. in your industry) than it does with a particular domain like corporate law or IP. He or she should obviously be able to serve you in diverse areas, or introduce you to the right people who will
4) Personal fit. You have to want to work with these people through formation, fundraising, and negotiations.
Look for them by asking for referrals from other startups in your industry. Local meetup groups for your industry are a good place to meet those people.
GoodApril (http://goodapril.com) - Online Tax Planning for Consumers - seeking late 3rd Co-Founder / Lead Developer
Taxes suck. Your job is to help us guide consumers in uncovering the ways they can pay less.
Us: We're launching our MVP next week, helping consumers know how they're impacted by the Fiscal Cliff and the 7 major tax changes coming in 2013. Help us accelerate our growth and development of our tax planning service.
You: Ruby on Rails engineer looking for a big new challenge.
I would love to find out if other YC candidates on HN felt similarly. I strove to keep my suggestions realistic, while reflecting honestly on the benefits and disappointments of our YC interview experience 2 months ago.
Nice article. I like how you pulled in some examples of major brands that started small, like Virgin.
As an entrepreneur, you're unfortunately constantly confronted by the push-and-pull of needing to think big, and then to build small. Investors (seem to) want to hear about big markets and big ideas, and at the same time want to see real product and traction - things that are hard to achieve unless you start small. Thanks for sharing.
I too have used CoFoundersLab.com with mild success. If you have not only an idea, but something you can show / share with people, I can't recommend AngelList highly enough for finding other startup folks - their recruiting tool is by far the best I've seen for early stage companies.
Finally, if you're a great developer and looking for an idea to work on, we'd be thrilled to talk with you at founders@goodapril.com - read more at http://angel.co/goodapril