Founders reached out to us to match them with a co-founder
The problem of finding the right co-founder is so acute that founders have explicitly asked us to find a co-founder for them. Before we launched Peersuit (www.peersuit.com), my co-founder and I had both experienced the cumbersome process of having endless, fruitless calls searching for a partner to work with.
We decided that the process of matching co-founders needs to be more efficient and that the rate of successful matches should be increased. Therefore, we are now taking a different approach - we decided to focus on a small number of founders who are willing to pay us to find a co-founder for them. This decision came right after a call with one of the founders on our waitlist, who asked us if we can make use of our experience and network of founders to find the right co-founder for her. As this task requires a considerable amount of resources from our side (focusing closely on our founders' specific needs), we are charging 100$ in order to find the right founder - on the condition that we will return the payment if we will not be able to achieve this feat. This allows us to really dive deep on certain issues with the matching process, while finding out what makes co-founders match successfully.
How is this different than what Y combinator has?
100 USD is way too low if you guys are indeed able to match and start successful founding teams.
I know that most founders are really tight with money, but some are not and would probably be willing to pay 10-100x of what you think.
You are right, Jan. There is a long-term value that the right co-founder can bring to a start-up, and it is definitely worth more than 100 USD.
As of now, we are seeing great value in learning more about the process as well. We might come to the conclusion that the effort only makes sense with founders that have the financial resources and a greater urgency though. Thanks a lot for your input!