Co-founders: do long-distance relationships work?

A partner and I are working on a web-based service and have reached the prototype phase - I've completed a working prototype of the website and we are now in the process of refining what we have. As such we've gotten serious about setting up a business plan and figuring out where to go from here.

We're both technically minded people. Neither of us have experience starting or running a business or handling the marketing end of things, so we are considering taking on an additional partner/co-founder. The problem is that we are located in an area that isn't exactly well known for having a thriving tech startup culture and local resources are pretty thin. We are considering relocating to an area more friendly to tech startups (Bay Area or Seattle) but this creates an obvious problem with finding a co-founder.

We would be happy to look locally but we'd have to find someone willing to relocate with us. Then there is the possibility of finding someone suitable in the area we intend to move to, but there is the obvious problem there of getting to know them in the meantime. I understand that it is easier to communicate nowadays due to Skype and other such services, but I wonder if anyone has any experience trying to work with a partner/co-founder over long distances like this? Would this just be asking for trouble?

Yes long distance relationships will work however the farther apart you are the tougher it will be because you will need to meet regularly online.

With technology today a virtual meeting is just as good as a real meeting. Make sure though that you clearly outline expectations and roles. Write it down and make sure both parties agree to it. Also include what will be done if expectations are not met in terms of roles and responsibilities. Meet regularly even if there isn't much to meet about , make sure to create agendas but still meet just to touch base and confirm everything is going smoothly. If someone is sitting idle they might move onto other projects with out telling the other members, regular meetings keep engagement and excitement going. Write down when you will meet and what type of meetings are going to happen on each meeting date.

If you keep a high level of communication and make sure to involve each other in the day to day activities in some capacity things should work out for you.

One of the most important thing's, regardless of location, is that you are both equally passionate about the idea and remain confident in the direction you're heading. One of the biggest hurdles for some people is slipping into a negative mindset and being unable to readily express their feelings/thoughts as easily as they might otherwise be able to. (It always sounds so stupid saying it aloud... but without someone there to snap you out of it the fear of failure can literally grow like a cancer)

I can't over state how important communication is, and not just simply touching base. Reading this guy's post makes me feel so hardcore, but I fully believe that aspect was mission critical (we were web based as well). We kept IRC (internet relay chat) open at all times, and would talk 3-4 hours a night over VOIP (before video chatting was prevalent). Those night chats usually weren't even talking business, yet always turned out super productive and gave us a huge moral boost for the next day. If one of us showed up late, even just to get on IRC, we would get super pissed. Long story short, we were all very serious about our goals/objectives, and I guarantee an office full of people couldn't have accomplished half as much as our team of three. It probably has lot a lot to do with the type of people you're working with, but we met each other online.

And I know exactly what you mean about living in a non-technical area, I live in South Louisiana. The startups down here are just plain pathetic.

I would also ask yourselves what you're expecting from a cali/seattle move. Because it might be for all the wrong reasons.

I'll leave you with one last thing: we didn't magically just click with each other and become the Brady Bunch. We went through around 30+ different people, and chose very cautiously who we wanted to work with. It had a lot to do with lack of funds, but it also allowed us to test drive people who seemed promising that eventually turned out to be better employees than founders.

I'll try to check back and follow up on any questions you might have