How to find a good team member online?

So, I started working on a project, and I have a shortage of good team members. The project is kind of secret and I would not like to share details about the project.

I could advertise on the web somewhere and put a word out, but how can I be sure that the interested people will be genuine? I've heard a lot about how people collaborate online, but how can one be sure whether the people will be there till the launch of project?

Any specific instances and cases you might have to share? Any word of advice?

You can never be sure, but at some point you will probably have to trust someone.

Businesses deal with this every day, but the important thing to remember is that ideas are generally worthless, it is execution that adds value.

As for finding a team member, it really depends on what industry you're in and what technologies you intend to use.

If you wanna a chef, go where chefs are.

If you wanna know if someone is a good chef, you need to ask to another chef, except if you are one so can judge it.

That point you to the fist step. If wanna developers, check for sites like stackoverflow.com and specialized job boards. Check the kind of open source collaborators you have found interesting, or go to the university and ask there for good candidates.

I would avoid places like CraigsList, you can always network locally or go to a few sites that specialize in getting professional people together like founder2be.com but I agree with the last comment, you will eventually need to trust someone.

I used craigslist in Boston, SF, and NYC to find a Java coder. Wasn't too expensive in terms of dollars but man, what a time sink. I had probably 50 responses from each ad in 2 days. And of the 150 or so only about 5-10 were qualified. About 5% were recruiters, 10% were off shore out-sourcing shops, 5% were sorta related to Java coding and the rest were crap. I mean, the very first response was from a guy with a CDL wanting to drive a truck for me.

It also doesn't matter what you say in the ad. My ad was explicit about no salary, just equity. I eventually had a form letter which asked "Are you aware that this is an equity position?" and that stopped them dead in their tracks. (And of course, only a handful had the courtesy to reply.)

But explore all opportunities, alumni associations, etc...