How On Deck brought together co-founders in their

community

We don’t like bragging but stats don’t lie, right? 😎

Intros Insights

300+
Member sign-ups
4.7/5
Average strength of match rating
9.3/10
Net Promoter Score
89%
Members participated at least once

On Deck’s custom-built algorithm

After adding all 7 questions to their custom matchmaking form, matches were based upon the weights shown in the pie chart to the right. Intros’ proprietary machine-learning algorithm took all of these questions into account!

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The Challenge

How does a community of 2000+ founders from 50+ countries match up potential co-founders with Intros AI? We talked with Joanna, a community builder and connector who helps manage ODF, On Deck's flagship fellowship.

What is On Deck?

OnDeck is a program that gathers founders from around the world that are all interested in starting their own company or joining an early stage startup.

Wondering how we teamed up? 🤝

How On Deck brought together co-founders through Intros

Finding complementary co-founders

Every potential founder is looking for a co-founder with a certain set of skills. That’s why On Deck decided to make their most important question a “Give and Take” question. Members were matched based on the skills they were looking for and the skills they could offer.

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Gauging commitment

Another important factor is understanding the time commitment of these potential co-founders. On Deck used a similarity scale question to match members who could commit a similar amount of time.

Establishing a common schedule

Even if you’ve found someone who has the skills you need, you still need to find time to co-work. On Deck chose to use a multi-comparison question to find common times that co-founders could work together on their next big idea.

Ensuring stability while building a company

To successfully start a company, it requires co-founders to have similar levels of self-sufficiency. This is why On Deck decided to create a “Must Have” question which made sure those who matched have the same level of comfortability around questionable income.

Linking a profile to a name

On Deck wanted potential co-founders to understand each other's past work experiences and stay connected.

“There’s a lot about the algorithm what about the actual matches? 🤔”

Making a Match
Introducing Megan & Jonathan 👋🏼

Megan Giacobetti
CEO of V1 @ Michigan
Megan is the Chief Executive Officer of V1 @Michigan, the community for ambitious student builders at the University of Michigan. Megan joined On Deck in the hopes of finding a technical co-founder to help her build a business that spreads mental health awareness.
Jonathan Pierre
Growth @Envision Accelerator
Jonathan Pierre works in Growth @Envision Accelerator, a community-driven accelerator for young, underrepresented founders. Jonathan joined the On Deck Intros club to find someone with experience in fundraising and product management.
The Match

Megan and Jonathan met in 2021 through the On Deck Intros Club. After just the second week of opt-ing in, the perfect match was between the two was found.

Intros made the match for three main reasons:
1
They had complementary skills through Intros “Give & Take” question mentioned earlier
2
They both wanted to spend all of their time (40+ hours) to build something truly impactful as quickly as possible
3
They were both extremely passionate about mental health and wanted to solve problems they felt were affecting the next generation disproportionately.

“I would have never imagined I would find my lifelong co-founder through an Intros club. However, it did a perfect job at finding what we cared about the most and making a seamless introduction between us. And for that, we’re eternally grateful”

- Megan Giacobetti & Jonathan Pierre

Moving Forward

In 2022, Jonathan and Megan have made large strides in creating the company that will address the next generation’s mental health challenges called Headspace. They have raised many rounds of funding and are quickly growing to become a next-gen leader in the space.

Megan and Jonathan still meet using the On Deck Intros club to this day to find more talented co-founders to join them on their mission.

"Not only was Intros so critical in facilitating the type of connection people want, but the team was incredible to work with."
Joanna
Community Manager @ On Deck

From 'Audience' to 'Community'

How one newsletter transformed their audience into a community with Intros.

Overall Impact

When members within the OnDeck community were matched, they were given all of the information from these questions, and our matching algorithm was able to make ideal matches based on all the percentages of weigh you see above. It is really difficult to find other young, aspiring founders - much less screen them for availability and accountability you want in a co-founder. This Intros club proved to be incredibly powerful for the OnDeck community, and will be started up again when the new batch of aspiring founders comes through the OnDeck pipeline.