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StartHawk and FounderCloud alternatives: 11 other ways to find a cofounder in 2026
StartHawk's address now opens FounderCloud. Its free plan lets you start one new conversation a day, and Premium is $24 a month after a trial that needs a card. Here's what else you can use, checked on 12 November 2026.
On this page
- What happened to StartHawk
- Why people look for FounderCloud alternatives
- What to look for in a FounderCloud alternative
- The options at a glance
- A platform that ranks people for you
- Cofounder directories and listings you search yourself
- Forums, networks and job boards
- Events and programmes
- FounderCloud vs Foundinity at a glance
- How to move your search from FounderCloud
- How to check someone you meet on any cofounder site
- Which should you use?
- FAQ
- Sources
What happened to StartHawk
StartHawk hasn't closed. It has a new name. On 12 November 2026, starthawk.com and www.starthawk.com both redirected to foundercloud.com, and starthawk.io redirected there too. FounderCloud's page title reads "Find a Co-founder, Then Build With a Plan", while its footer still says "© 2026 Starthawk | Starthawk LTD" and its contact address is on the StartHawk domain.
StartHawk first launched on Product Hunt in August 2019. Under the FounderCloud name, the site has four parts:
- Founders: a grid of member profiles you browse, showing what each person brings and needs.
- Ideas: startup ideas posted by members, each with a category, a stage (validation, building or launched) and the roles it needs. Listings show no dates.
- The Nest: a question-and-answer section with a question of the day.
- FounderAssist: an AI tool that writes you a weekly plan after you sign up. On the free plan it refreshes once a week.
If you had a StartHawk account, the same company runs FounderCloud, so try your old login there before you start over somewhere else.
Why people look for FounderCloud alternatives
The site is free to join, and its limits show up once you start writing to people. All of these come from FounderCloud's own pricing page and homepage, checked on 12 November 2026.
One new conversation a day on the free plan. The free plan includes your profile and browsing, but you can "Start one new conversation a day". If you want to write to ten people this week, that takes ten days. Unlimited messages are a Premium feature.
Premium costs $24 a month, after a trial that needs a card. New subscribers get a 7-day free trial, and a card is required to start it. After the trial you pick monthly, 3-month, 6-month or yearly billing; the yearly plan is advertised as saving 50%. The pricing page says you can "Turn off renewal anytime in Settings". Put a reminder in your calendar the day you start the trial.
Paying members get the visibility. FounderCloud's pricing page lists "Listed in the founder grid" as a Premium feature, and the homepage says Premium members are "listed in the founder grid and featured here". When we checked, the homepage's featured founder was a Premium member. Who you see first partly reflects who pays.
Nothing tells you who is still active. Idea listings carry no dates, so a post from this month and one from years ago look the same. The homepage's activity figure is a total of conversations started, which says nothing about how many people are using the site now.
None of this makes FounderCloud a bad place to post an idea. It does mean that on the free plan, the pace of your search is set by a daily limit, and the judging of every profile is left to you.
What to look for in a FounderCloud alternative
Most cofounder sites look alike from the homepage. These questions separate them once you sign up:
1. How many people can you contact, and how fast? A daily or weekly cap decides how long a search takes. Find the limit before you write your profile. 2. What decides who you see first? Search results, the newest posts, paid placement, or how well the other person fits you. 3. What do you learn before the first call? A skills list says who can do the job. It says little about whether you'd work well together for years. 4. What keeps a conversation going? A message that sits unanswered for three weeks is a wasted week of your search. 5. Who can see your profile? If you're still employed, check this before you write anything. 6. How does the paid plan bill? Read the trial and renewal terms before you add a card.
The options below are described against these points, starting with Foundinity.
The options at a glance
| Option | Cost to start | How you find people | What's left to you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundinity | Free; Plus $5 a week or $15 a month | Ranked by compatibility on multiple dimensions around who you are and how you work | Like the people you want to meet, then book the intro call in the app |
| YC's cofounder matching | Free; approval first | Browse approved profiles; up to 20 invites a week | Sorting profiles, judging fit, following up |
| CoFoundersLab | Free plan; Premium $29 a month after a 30-day trial | Search member profiles | Searching, messaging, checking who's real, cancelling on time |
| Founders Nation | No prices shown | Search by role, idea stage and hours a week | Messaging after you register, working out who's active |
| FoundersList | Free | Read cofounder listings | Checking how old a listing is, vetting who replies |
| Indie Hackers | Free | Forum posts in the main feed | Writing the post, reaching out |
| Free; InMail needs Premium | Search work histories | Finding who's open to it, getting introductions | |
| Wellfound | Free for candidates | Job listings titled cofounder | Applying and waiting for a reply |
| Founder Institute events | No fee listed | Online networking events | Working out who's serious, following up |
| Startup Weekend and hackathons | Set by each event | Form a team over a weekend | Getting there, following up afterwards |
| Entrepreneur First, Antler | Selective; full-time | Cohorts where teams form | Getting in, leaving your job |
A platform that ranks people for you
1. Foundinity
Foundinity is a cofounder matching platform built around the question FounderCloud leaves to you: would the two of you actually work well together?
You state what you need in a cofounder, and answer an assessment about how you work: commitment, working style, ambition, personality, goals, values, alongside your skills and interests. A multi-trait algorithm built on established psychological compatibility models ranks the people you see, so you start with compatible people instead of hundreds of random profiles. Skills tell you who can do the job. The rest tells you who you can actually build with for years.
How you find people. You don't search, and no one pays to be shown above you. The people most compatible with you come first, and you like the ones you want to meet. When two people like each other, it's a match.
What you learn before the call. Every match comes with a compatibility breakdown that shows where the two of you align and where you differ, so your first conversation has an agenda.
What keeps it moving. A 10-day clock starts on each match. Until you book a call, a match has a limited number of messages, and if no call is scheduled in time, the match expires. You book the intro call in the app, without trading times by email.
Who sees your profile. Only members who are compatible with you. Set your status to exploring and meet people at your own pace while you're still in a job.
What it costs. Free to get started; Plus is $5 a week or $15 a month. See pricing and how it works.
Cofounder directories and listings you search yourself
These four are built for people looking for a cofounder, like FounderCloud. The reading, sorting and judging of profiles is your job.
2. YC's cofounder matching
What it is. Y Combinator's free directory of founder profiles. You create a profile, wait for approval, then look through other approved profiles and invite the people you'd like to talk to. If someone accepts, you're matched and arrange a call.
What to know. Startup School's FAQ says approval "may take up to a week". YC's cofounder matching allows 20 invites a week. The FAQ lists reasons a member can be removed, including not responding when a match tries to schedule a meeting and contacting someone on another platform, such as LinkedIn, without their permission. Profiles are visible only to approved members.
Where Foundinity differs. You don't spend a weekly allowance of invites guessing from profiles. People arrive ranked by compatibility, and every match shows where you align and differ before the first call. See YC cofounder matching alternatives.
3. CoFoundersLab
What it is. A membership directory of founder profiles that you search and message yourself.
What to know. Premium is $29 a month after a 30-day free trial, and its terms say the trial moves to automatic payments unless you cancel before the renewal date. Its privacy policy says profiles are visible to all members and, subject to your settings, can be seen by visitors and search engines. On Trustpilot it has a TrustScore of 1.3 from 107 reviews, with complaints about spam, fake profiles and trouble deleting accounts.
Where Foundinity differs. Your profile is shown only to compatible members, never to search engines, and you can start on the free plan without a card. See CoFoundersLab alternatives.
4. Founders Nation
What it is. A directory of two groups: people who "Have an idea for startup" and people "Looking to join a startup". You search by role (coder, designer, sales, product and others), the stage of the idea and the hours someone can give each week.
What to know. The site shows no prices, no dates on profiles and no year in its footer, so you can't tell from outside how many people still use it. Its homepage says "In order to send messages you must be a registered member".
Where Foundinity differs. A search box tells you who has the right role and free hours. Foundinity also tells you how that person works, and the 10-day clock shows you quickly who is still active.
5. FoundersList
What it is. A free listings site. You post what you're building and who you need, or read other people's listings by type of cofounder, location and business stage.
What to know. The listings page says "You can message cofounders for free", and no paid plan is listed. The footer still reads "© 2023 FoundersList Inc.", and listings show no dates, which is the same problem as FounderCloud's ideas board.
Where Foundinity differs. There's no listing to write and no date to guess. Your assessment answers describe you, and the people you see are ranked by compatibility.
Forums, networks and job boards
Much broader than cofounder sites. Most people there aren't looking for a cofounder, which is both the reach and the cost.
6. Indie Hackers
What it is. A free forum where founders write about what they're building.
What to know. Indie Hackers retired its Groups feature in 2026, and with it the "Looking to Partner Up" group. When we last read the page, on 8 November 2026, it showed "Groups no longer exists", and site search had been retired too. A cofounder request is now an ordinary post in the main feed. The site blocked our automated check on 12 November.
Where Foundinity differs. A forum post reaches whoever reads the feed that week. Foundinity starts from the other end and shows you the members most compatible with you.
7. LinkedIn
What it is. The professional network most people already have a profile on, useful for work histories and mutual introductions.
What to know. LinkedIn's help pages say "InMail messages is a Premium account feature". Premium Career includes 5 InMail credits a month, Premium Business 15 and Premium All-in-One 30. Most people on LinkedIn aren't looking for a cofounder, and a profile won't tell you who is.
Where Foundinity differs. Everyone you match with joined to find a cofounder, so you don't spend credits finding out who's open to it. Keep LinkedIn for checking the work history of someone you've already met.
8. Wellfound
What it is. A startup job board, formerly AngelList Talent.
What to know. Cofounder roles appear as job listings posted by companies, each with an Apply button, in the same format as any other opening. Its help centre says applications a company doesn't act on expire after two weeks. Creating a profile and applying is free for candidates.
Where Foundinity differs. On a job board, a cofounder is a hire and one side decides. On Foundinity, a match needs both of you to like each other.
Events and programmes
9. Founder Institute's online cofounder events
What it is. Virtual cofounder networking events that Founder Institute says are "open to anyone".
What to know. Its find-a-cofounder page lists no fee and gives no schedule beyond saying it "regularly hosts" them. It says it "does not make guarantees related to finding a co-founder". Following up with the people you meet is up to you.
Where Foundinity differs. An hour of networking tells you little about how someone works. On Foundinity, the compatibility breakdown shows that before you spend time on a call.
10. Startup Weekend and hackathons
What it is. Techstars Startup Weekend is a three-day event billed as "Build a Startup in 54 Hours": people pitch ideas, form teams and build. Hackathons run on a similar clock, with more of the time spent writing code.
What to know. Events run on fixed dates, in person or online, and fees are set by each local organiser. A weekend shows how someone handles a deadline; it says less about how they'll hold up over months.
With Foundinity. A weekend makes a good trial once you've found someone. Match on Foundinity, then enter an event together and see how you work under pressure.
11. Entrepreneur First and Antler
What they are. Full-time programmes that take individuals and help them form founding teams inside a cohort. Entrepreneurs First's FAQ says you need neither a cofounder nor an idea to apply, and Antler's UK page says "Most people join Antler solo".
What to know. Both expect you full-time and in person. Entrepreneurs First asks you to move to London or Bangalore for 12 weeks of team forming. Antler's UK residency runs for up to 8 weeks for solo founders, with founders usually in person 4 to 6 days a week, and you need the right to work in the UK.
Where Foundinity differs. You don't have to quit or move to start. Set your status to exploring and meet people at your own pace. See Entrepreneur First vs Antler.
FounderCloud vs Foundinity at a glance
For readers comparing the two directly:
| FounderCloud (StartHawk) | Foundinity | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A board of founder profiles and startup ideas, with an AI weekly plan | A cofounder matching platform |
| How you find people | You browse founders and ideas | Ranked by compatibility on multiple dimensions around who you are and how you work |
| How you make contact | Messages; one new conversation a day on the free plan | Like the people you want to meet; a mutual like is a match |
| Before the first call | Their profile | A compatibility breakdown of where you align and differ |
| Keeping it moving | Read receipts on Premium; no time limit on conversations described | A 10-day clock on each match and intro calls booked in the app |
| Paid visibility | Premium members listed in the founder grid and featured | No paid placement |
| Paid plan | Premium $24 a month after a 7-day trial with a card | Plus $5 a week or $15 a month |
FounderCloud's ideas board does something Foundinity doesn't: it lets you post an idea publicly and see who reacts. If that's what you want, it's a reasonable place to do it. If what you want is a cofounder you'll work well with, the ranking and the breakdown do more of that work for you.
How to move your search from FounderCloud
If you've been on FounderCloud or StartHawk for a while, you don't need to start from zero:
- Keep the conversations that are going well. If someone replied and you've had a call, carry on. Move to email or a call and keep talking.
- Turn off renewal if you're on Premium. The pricing page says you can do it in Settings. Check your next statement after you do.
- Reuse what you wrote, then add what was missing. Your skills and idea description still help. What a profile rarely shows is how you work: the hours you can give, how you make decisions, what kind of company you want. On Foundinity, the assessment asks exactly that.
- Write down why past conversations stalled. If they died because you wanted different things, or one of you couldn't give the time, that's what to check first with the next person.
- Set a limit on each new conversation. If you haven't had a real call within ten days, move on. Foundinity's 10-day clock does this for you.
How to check someone you meet on any cofounder site
FounderCloud, like most of the sites above, describes no identity checks. Run your own:
- Look them up elsewhere. A real work history leaves a trail: a company site, a GitHub account, people who worked with them.
- Get on video early. Someone who keeps avoiding a call is a warning sign.
- Ask what they've built, then check it. If they say they shipped an app, ask for the link.
- Work together before you decide. Two to six weeks on a small, real project tells you more than any profile. Our guide to a cofounder trial project covers how to run one, and our list of cofounder red flags covers what to watch for.
- Never send money. No real cofounder needs a fee from you to get started.
Which should you use?
If you want to know how someone works before you spend weeks on calls, start with Foundinity: answer the assessment, like the people ranked highest, and use the 10-day clock to get each match onto a call.
If you're happy to read profiles and write to people yourself, YC's cofounder matching is free once you're approved, and FoundersList costs nothing. Add one in-person format, like a Startup Weekend, so you also meet people face to face. If you're ready to leave your job now, Entrepreneur First and Antler are the full-time route. Keep LinkedIn for checking the people you meet. For every app side by side, see the best cofounder matching apps.
FAQ
Is StartHawk still running?
Yes, as FounderCloud. On 12 November 2026, starthawk.com redirected to foundercloud.com, and FounderCloud's footer reads "© 2026 Starthawk | Starthawk LTD".
What happened to StartHawk?
It was renamed. The same company runs the site as FounderCloud, with a founder grid, an ideas board, a Q&A section called the Nest and an AI weekly plan called FounderAssist.
Is FounderCloud free?
It has a free plan that includes your profile, browsing founders and ideas, and one new conversation a day. Premium costs $24 a month after a 7-day trial that needs a card.
How much does FounderCloud Premium cost?
$24 a month on monthly billing, with 3-month, 6-month and yearly options; the yearly plan is advertised as saving 50%. A $49-a-month Venture plan is listed with a waitlist.
How many people can I message on FounderCloud for free?
The free plan lets you start one new conversation a day. Unlimited messages are part of Premium.
What are the best StartHawk alternatives?
Foundinity, if you want people ranked by compatibility with a breakdown and a 10-day clock on every match. If you'd rather search yourself, YC's cofounder matching, CoFoundersLab, Founders Nation and FoundersList are directories and listings sites, and events and full-time programmes are other routes.
What's the best free alternative to FounderCloud?
Foundinity is free to get started. YC's cofounder matching is free with no paid tier, but you wait for approval and invites are capped at 20 a week. FoundersList and Indie Hackers are free listings and forums with no cofounder tools.
What sites are like StartHawk?
The closest are other sites where founders post profiles or listings and search them: YC's cofounder matching, CoFoundersLab, Founders Nation and FoundersList. Foundinity works differently: you answer an assessment and see people ranked by compatibility.
Is FounderCloud legit?
It's a real, running site from the company behind StartHawk. Check anyone you meet there the way you would on any site.
Does FounderCloud have paid placement?
Its pricing page lists a listing in the founder grid as a Premium feature, and its homepage says Premium members are featured there.
Can I cancel FounderCloud Premium?
The pricing page says you can turn off renewal any time in Settings. The 7-day trial needs a card, so turn off renewal before it ends if you don't want to pay.
Is FounderCloud or YC's cofounder matching better?
They suit different people. YC's is free, with approval and 20 invites a week. FounderCloud lets you post ideas and browse straight away, with one new conversation a day on the free plan. Both leave judging fit to you.
How is Foundinity different from FounderCloud?
FounderCloud gives you a grid of profiles and an ideas board to browse. Foundinity asks how you work, ranks people by compatibility, shows where you align and differ on every match, and puts a 10-day clock on each one.
Who can see my profile on Foundinity?
Only members who are compatible with you. Foundinity doesn't share your profile publicly.
Can I use FounderCloud and Foundinity at the same time?
Yes. Many people use more than one site. Keep your best conversations going wherever they started.
Sources
- FounderCloud homepage, pricing and ideas pages (foundercloud.com, foundercloud.com/pricing, foundercloud.com/ideas), checked 12 November 2026.
- starthawk.com, www.starthawk.com and starthawk.io, HTTP redirects to foundercloud.com, checked with curl 12 November 2026.
- Product Hunt, StartHawk launch history, checked 12 November 2026.
- Y Combinator cofounder matching page (ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching) and Startup School FAQ (startupschool.org/faq), checked 12 November 2026.
- CoFoundersLab Premium page, terms and privacy policy (cofounderslab.com/premium, cofounderslab.com/terms, cofounderslab.com/privacy), checked 12 November 2026.
- Trustpilot, CoFoundersLab reviews, checked 12 November 2026.
- Founders Nation homepage (founders-nation.com), checked 12 November 2026.
- FoundersList cofounder listings (founderslist.com/cofounders), checked 12 November 2026.
- Indie Hackers "Looking to Partner Up" group page and search page (indiehackers.com), retired; checked 8 November 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, InMail credits on Premium (linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a541643), checked 12 November 2026.
- Wellfound homepage, about page, "Co-founder Jobs" (wellfound.com/role/cofounder) and Help Center, "Why do applications expire?" (help.wellfound.com), checked 12 November 2026.
- Founder Institute (fi.co/find-a-cofounder), checked 12 November 2026.
- Techstars Startup Weekend (techstars.com/communities/startup-weekend), checked 12 November 2026.
- Entrepreneurs First FAQs (joinef.com/faqs) and Antler UK (antler.co/location/uk), checked 12 November 2026.
- Foundinity plans and how it works: foundinity.com, checked 12 November 2026.
