Finding the right people
Four things you can search, how co-founder matching works and what it needs from you, and the difference between following, connecting, muting and blocking.
What you will learn
- What you can actually search for
- How co-founder matching works, and why it needs your preferences first
- When to follow and when to connect
- How to make somebody go away, at two different strengths
Four things you can search#
- People - founders, mentors, investors, students, professionals and freelancers
- Startups - by stage and sector
- Incubators - centres, and the programmes they have open
- Pages - companies, institutions and funds
Tip
Search by what somebody does rather than by seniority. The matching reads skills, so "payments infrastructure" finds you more useful people than "CTO" does.
Co-founder matching#
This one only works if you tell it what you are looking for. Set your co-founder preferences first - until you do, there is nothing to match you against.
- The skills you need in a co-founder
- Commitment level - full-time or part-time
- Where they should be, and whether remote works
- What you expect on equity
Be honest about equity in the preferences
It is the single most common reason a promising co-founder conversation collapses in week three. Putting a real range in here filters at the start rather than after two months of evenings.
Follow, or connect#
Two different relationships, and people use the wrong one constantly.
| Follow | Connect | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs their agreement | No | Yes - they accept or decline |
| Goes both ways | No. You see them; they need not see you | Yes |
| Use it for | Companies and people whose posts you want | People you actually want to be able to reach |
Tip
Follow first, connect later. A connection request from somebody who has engaged with your posts for a month is accepted far more often than one from a stranger.
Making somebody go away#
Two strengths, and the difference matters.
- Mute - their posts stop appearing in your feed. They are not told, and nothing else changes. Use it for somebody you have to stay connected to and would rather not read
- Block - stops the interaction entirely, in both directions
Why results look the way they do#
Discovery ranks on how well somebody matches what you are looking for - the skills on their profile against what you are searching, plus your existing connections and shared communities. It is weighted scoring rather than anything cleverer, and the practical consequence is the same as everywhere else on this platform: the quality of your results is set by the quality of the profiles, starting with your own.
