“When we crack the code to efficiently matching optimal founding teams, we’ll solve a big piece to the venture creation puzzle that’ll create jobs, and make entrepreneurship more accessible to the growing population.”

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MO.com is made possible by our friends at:

Guidant Financial: The leader in alternative startup, franchise and small business financing
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CoFounders Lab helps entrepreneurs through one of the toughest and first challenges of launching a new business – finding a co-founder. We help entrepreneurs through one of the toughest and first challenges of launching a new business – finding a co-founder. We do this in two ways.

o Through in-person Co-Founder matching Meetups for entrepreneurs (organized and finely tuned over two years)

o complimented with our online matching portal at www.CoFoundersLab.com (or visa versa). Both components are completely FREE.

We take great care in making matching recommendations. Currently we match on half a dozen criteria; think match.com for entrepreneurs.

MO: Where did the idea for CoFounders Lab come from? How has your background and experience contributed to the development and vision of the company so far?

Shahab:  After co-founding HyperOffice and working on that for 7 years, I realized the reason I was successful at my last startup was because of my team, not our timing, and not because we were deeply funded. As I began thinking of my next venture and realized it was not best to team with a friend just cause we got along; instead I should focus on finding someone who complimented me the best. But how do I go about finding that person. I was scratching by own itch, and so I organized a co-founder matching Meetup. I found my co-founder, and found this experience very rewarding. I wanted to give back to the entrepreneur community, then after a few months realized providing this service to the masses could be a viable business.

MO: Can you expand a bit on your match-making process and how it works?

Shahab:  We host in-person co-founder matching events in about 12 cities where entrepreneurs discover co-founders. They also use our online matching platform, think eHarmony for founders.

MO: Can you talk about how you’re teaming up with the top startup brands in the country and what that means for CoFounders Lab?

Shahab:  Our partners help spread the word to their community and deliver real value to their members by helping their entrepreneurial community with the first obstacle in launching a startup, building a strong founding team. So we’ve teamed up with TechStars, Harvard iLab, NYU Stern, CrossCampus, and others to host our events, and leverage our online matching platform.

MO: Have you always had an entrepreneurial spirit?

Shahab:  Yes, as long as I can remember, I’ve always doubted the status quo, and thrived on creating and working on problems that are worthy of solving.

MO: What is one marketing strategy that’s really worked for you so far?

Shahab:  Finding high impact marketing partners who are aligned well, and have well aligned incentives. Plus giving it away free has helped too LOL

MO: What’s the most exciting thing on the horizon for you personally or professionally?

Shahab:  Raising my son with my amazing wife is top of the list. But I’m really excited too about the matching technology we are building. When we crack the code to efficiently matching optimal founding teams, we’ll solve a big piece to the venture creation puzzle that’ll create jobs, and make entrepreneurship more accessible to the growing population