4 ms·

...I'm learning to code...(sound of pitchforks rustling)

goldenkey 11y ago
For anything early enough such as an MVP, you will be utterly useless. You need a programmer. However a programmer really doesn't need you.
- rl3 11y ago
  Ryan Hoover didn't know how to code. Product Hunt literally started as an e-mail list because of that, and the rest is history.
- adrianmacneil 11y ago
  This may or may not be true, but we should be more accepting of people who want to start companies rather than simply telling them they are not necessary.
  - funkyy 11y ago
    To be completely honest, idea is just 10% of business. Any one man startup creator will confirm imo. Idea is good, but idea will not get you 50% shares of a project. Obviously people should open businesses - but hey, there are so many ways to do it. If you have ONLY idea, then do this two steps: -learn basics of languages needed to start it on Codecademy so you can also help in testing, double checking code and writing some small things - like initial code for the website so the developer can focus on important things -learn some marketing and business. Those are not that hard actually and best resources are forums imo. Start with Fastlane forum, BHW forum and BuilderSociety. All information you need for making successful startup are on this forums. Then read a bit about other startups on Medium and especially focus on startup postmortem - VERY important to learn from their mistakes. All of this will take you 2-3 months to learn assuming you spend ~4 hours every day on them. While doing it all socialize like crazy liking and interacting with people from your startups niche on Twitter and Facebook. Once you are done you have skills necessary to be very good idea co-funder that will bring enough to the table to want 50%.
    - adrianmacneil 11y ago
      GP comment said they were learning to code (the same as you suggested). Reply was "you will be utterly useless". My point was that we should avoid such negativity, and instead be supportive of people who are learning to code so that they can build their idea.
- touchofevil 11y ago
  Yeah, I guess there's no way for non-programmers and programmers to work together to create a startup.
  - lmm 11y ago
    You don't have to be a programmer but you do need to contribute more than just an idea (e.g. domain expertise, business knowledge, sales experience).
    - touchofevil 11y ago
      Of course.
      - lmm 11y ago
        Then make the case for that. Give us some credentials, or experience, or... just some reason why a technically skilled person would want to pick you rather than anyone else as a cofounder. You're presumably going to want to see the same thing from their end.
        touchofevil 11y ago
        I had planned to give additional details via email. I just thought I might bump into someone in these comments that was also interested in working on something related to PH. However, that doesn't seem to be what I've found here...
- kriro 11y ago
  Testing if you are actually solving the right problem for the right people usually requires no programming knowledge. It's mostly about talking to people. This step is of course often skipped by programmers because we like to build something and go from there. A good customer development person is worth their weight in gold (as are designers). Most programmers (including me) really do need such a person. The typical "idea guy" however...is just annoying and unfortunately that's the people that usually randomly ask me "oh i think you can program i have this great idea...". Since parent poster learns to program he/she's way ahead of the curve though and I doubt he/she's just an idea guy.

For anything early enough such as an MVP, you will be utterly useless. You need a programmer. However a programmer really doesn't need you.

rl3 11y ago
Ryan Hoover didn't know how to code. Product Hunt literally started as an e-mail list because of that, and the rest is history.
adrianmacneil 11y ago
This may or may not be true, but we should be more accepting of people who want to start companies rather than simply telling them they are not necessary.
- funkyy 11y ago
  To be completely honest, idea is just 10% of business. Any one man startup creator will confirm imo. Idea is good, but idea will not get you 50% shares of a project. Obviously people should open businesses - but hey, there are so many ways to do it. If you have ONLY idea, then do this two steps: -learn basics of languages needed to start it on Codecademy so you can also help in testing, double checking code and writing some small things - like initial code for the website so the developer can focus on important things -learn some marketing and business. Those are not that hard actually and best resources are forums imo. Start with Fastlane forum, BHW forum and BuilderSociety. All information you need for making successful startup are on this forums. Then read a bit about other startups on Medium and especially focus on startup postmortem - VERY important to learn from their mistakes. All of this will take you 2-3 months to learn assuming you spend ~4 hours every day on them. While doing it all socialize like crazy liking and interacting with people from your startups niche on Twitter and Facebook. Once you are done you have skills necessary to be very good idea co-funder that will bring enough to the table to want 50%.
  - adrianmacneil 11y ago
    GP comment said they were learning to code (the same as you suggested). Reply was "you will be utterly useless". My point was that we should avoid such negativity, and instead be supportive of people who are learning to code so that they can build their idea.
touchofevil 11y ago
Yeah, I guess there's no way for non-programmers and programmers to work together to create a startup.
- lmm 11y ago
  You don't have to be a programmer but you do need to contribute more than just an idea (e.g. domain expertise, business knowledge, sales experience).
  - touchofevil 11y ago
    Of course.
    - lmm 11y ago
      Then make the case for that. Give us some credentials, or experience, or... just some reason why a technically skilled person would want to pick you rather than anyone else as a cofounder. You're presumably going to want to see the same thing from their end.
      - touchofevil 11y ago
        I had planned to give additional details via email. I just thought I might bump into someone in these comments that was also interested in working on something related to PH. However, that doesn't seem to be what I've found here...
kriro 11y ago
Testing if you are actually solving the right problem for the right people usually requires no programming knowledge. It's mostly about talking to people. This step is of course often skipped by programmers because we like to build something and go from there. A good customer development person is worth their weight in gold (as are designers). Most programmers (including me) really do need such a person. The typical "idea guy" however...is just annoying and unfortunately that's the people that usually randomly ask me "oh i think you can program i have this great idea...". Since parent poster learns to program he/she's way ahead of the curve though and I doubt he/she's just an idea guy.