I noticed your other post the other day looking for someone to hack with in NYC. Ok, seems fair. But you're looking for a co-founder "for what"? For "a startup"? To build what? What is your passion? It's fun to say "I want to start a start up, I'll read Paul Graham and make sure not to make those mistakes, 1) Check, 2) Check..." and so on. In reality, having a marketable and economically viable idea is the key to founding a successful business. But it seems from your posts that your key passion is not wanting to work in a large company. That's fair enough as well, but it's not the sort of thing that makes a start up successful.
Find a problem and start solving it. Then tell everyone about it. A co-founder will come. In fact, they will come because they are interested in the problem you are solving. Don't assume that two people who like sitting around together can actually come up with a viable, marketable idea and then become successful startup founders.
Also, Paul Graham is speaking from an investment portfolio perspective when he is speaking of the #1 failure point being not having a co-founder. He says, "Have you noticed how few successful startups were founded by just one person?" The thing you should be worrying about is "Have you noticed how few successful startups there are? Why is that?" Answer the second question first, and you will come to find it has very little to do with co-founders.
Find a problem and start solving it. Then tell everyone about it. A co-founder will come. In fact, they will come because they are interested in the problem you are solving. Don't assume that two people who like sitting around together can actually come up with a viable, marketable idea and then become successful startup founders.
Also, Paul Graham is speaking from an investment portfolio perspective when he is speaking of the #1 failure point being not having a co-founder. He says, "Have you noticed how few successful startups were founded by just one person?" The thing you should be worrying about is "Have you noticed how few successful startups there are? Why is that?" Answer the second question first, and you will come to find it has very little to do with co-founders.