After months of failed co-founder searches I built Startr — looking for feedback
I spent months looking for a co-founder after graduating from UM. LinkedIn. Reddit. CoFoundersLab. YC matching.
Every platform was full of bots or ghosts. None of the platforms told me if we were actually compatible.
Someone on Hacker News said it perfectly:
"There's no system or formula to really dig deep and see if you're compatible on all the levels you need to be."
That sentence lived in my head for months. So I built the system.
Startr is an invite-only co-founder matching platform where:
→ Proof of work is required to get in — builders share GitHub, operators share traction/issue/ market research
→ AI matches you based on what you're actually building
→ Before you commit to anyone, you solve a 48-hour business challenge together
→ AI scores your compatibility — not vibes, actual data.
Two questions for this community:
- Have you ever used a co-founder matching platform? What was your experience?
- What would make you actually trust a platform enough to use it seriously?
Would love brutal honest feedback. www.getstartrapp.com
Interesting approach — especially the “prove before pairing” part.
One thing that might be working against you though:
“Startr” + getstartrapp doesn’t really signal trust or depth. It feels more like a lightweight tool than something serious enough for co-founder matching.
In a space where people are already skeptical, the name has to carry a lot of that trust upfront — before they even read the mechanics.
Curious — did you explore stronger positioning on the naming side, or was this more of a quick ship decision?
Thank you so much for this — genuinely love getting feedback like this!
So the name actually has a meaning I found fitting because Startr is about helping founders START. Start pursuing their dream, start building with someone they can actually trust, start the journey in the right direction. The dropped vowel is a little nod to our generation of founders who move fast and build boldly.
Curious — what would signal 'serious' to you? What would a name need to feel like to make you trust it right away?
The meaning works internally. But users don’t see meaning, they feel signal.
“Startr” reads fast and lightweight. Your product is high-stakes and trust-heavy.
That mismatch creates hesitation before they even evaluate the system.
In this category, names that work usually feel:
clear, stable, something you can say out loud without explaining
Because if someone says “we met on ___”, it has to sound credible instantly.
Right now that gap is doing more damage than it looks.
Did you try anything that leans more toward trust and credibility, or was this mainly a quick ship choice?