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How to find a business cofounder that doesn't suck  

Jason Freedman:

Find a business cofounder that truly rocks at something. Anything.

Something. Anything. Well, almost. FInd someone that is good at one specific, concrete thing that is valuable to your startup right now. If you're talking to a 100% generalist, it's just not going to work. Not yet anyways. He may turn into an impressive entrepreneur someday but that will be on a future startup after he's burned yours.

Sounds spot on. As I've said before, you should only give equity away to someone who has demonstrated before a shadow of a doubt that they'll make your business worth that much more in a tangible manner. By definition, a generalist "business guy" can't demonstrate that (unless they have built up and exited businesses successfully already, but then they're not longer a generalist business guy, they're a serial entrepreneur with serious credentials).

More from the library:
Recruiting programmers to your startup
Don't underestimate simple ideas
Startup sales: #4: Make it easier to say yes than no