Let’s say you have a startup, are a developer considering one, or are someone with a business poised for expansion. You are likely already well aware that angel investors and venture capitalists care deeply about making their bets on an idea and the team and you know that, in order to execute on your idea, you need a co-founder that has strengths you lack and vice-versa.

So now what do you do? You’ve been attending as many networking, meetups and other events in Minnesota you can, but you’ve found the opportunities to network with other developers, entrepreneurs and investors growing but your mingling and talking is not productive. How do you find the right person with the skills and knowledge you need? All that running around (and beer consumed) at those great events still won’t get you to the core of what every entrepreneur needs: a co-founder(s) that can offer your venture such things as expertise, capital, connections, knowledge or experience you might lack or need desperately in order to get to the next level.

You need a matchmaker.

CoFoundersLab believes they have the “matchmaking for entrepreneurs” solution and their early success is proving their model works. They position their venture like this:

Choosing your co-founder(s) is arguably the most important business decision you’ll make. Traditionally, entrepreneurs turn to friends and family when searching for business partners, but this search is often too limited in scope. Our free, online matchmaking service gives you access to the largest group of entrepreneurs ever assembled looking to join a startup or be joined on their venture, allowing you to cast a much wider net in your search for talent.

CoFoundersLab was started in 2011 to deliver a service that would be an accelerator of what the its co-founders describe as “healthy partnerships” to entrepreneurs everywhere. Co-founders Shahab Kaviani and Culin Tate met at the very first Co-Founders Wanted Meetup in Maryland in 2010. They quickly realized that, more than any other factor, the success they had enjoyed in their own startups was a direct result of the healthy partnerships each had built right at the outset.

I had a chance to talk with CoFoundersLab marketing and strategic partnerships leader, Michael Hughes, about their venture and why there is an interest in expanding in to Minnesota. Turns out they have been tracking various cities and states and have continued to hear about the vibrant (and growing) entrepreneurial activity in our state. They want to put together one of their quarterly “Co-Founders Wanted” meetup events and will do so as soon as there is enough interest and a good number of people signed up for a free profile (though the exact numbers aren’t stated). CoFoundersLab is already hosting these events in 30+ markets, so they definitely have a solid track record at this point and are approaching various communities methodically and managing their rollout so it remains high quality and effective.

Here is a quick video that will give you a sense of what CoFoundersLab does and how it works:

[youtube http://youtu.be/lJAltezzNsk]

 

If you’d like to read other’s perspectives on CoFoundersLab, take a look at this article at TheNextWeb (which talks about their international expansion objectives) and this one at Mashable.

Then get crackin’ and post a free profile today, search for and get discovered by other entrepreneurs, and find your perfect match at CoFoundersLab.