Does one of your New Year’s resolutions involve finally committing to that wacky startup idea that you’ve been thinking about for months or years? If so, FounderDating is launching a new program called #NoRegrets2013 to help you go beyond idle dreaming.
In some ways, that’s what the organization does already — it connects founders in 18 cities through an online network that’s balanced to include 50 percent engineering-focused members and 50 percent non-engineering. You could probably look at this new effort as a big membership drive. But this time, FounderDating is making it particularly easy to get involved. You just go to the No Regrets page and enter your idea, then, according to founder Jessica Alter, “We help them get going.”
“Most people have a passion that they’re probably not doing right now,” Alter said. “It becomes a list that gets tucked away somewhere, and that’s not super helpful. We wanted to be action-oriented about it and give them something they can do right now — telling someone about their idea for the first time.”
And this isn’t just for people who need co-founders. Alter said the FounderDating community can provide helpful tips, as well as support and encouragement, and the ideas will be showcased in the gallery. She also noted that the idea doesn’t have to be a traditional tech startup — you might want to start your own food truck, for example — and you don’t need to commit to jumping in full-time, as long as you’re ready to turn it into a serious side project.
There’s no specific deadline, Alter said, though she added, “I don’t foresee that in March this is going to be something we’re focused on.”
By the way, recent startups to emerge from FounderDating include Yabbly, Fantasy Brain, Signature Labs, and Voxgift Winston. If you’re interested in joining their ranks, you can check out #NoRegrets2013 here.