8 ms·

Seeking Technology Co-Founder (NYC)

13 points by colellm 19y ago

I am seeking a technology co-founder for a web startup in the wedding or niche travel space. Ideally this person would be located in or near New York City. I will be upfront. I am not a programmer but I do have what I consider to be strong ideas and have done extensive research on my ideas/web startups. I know what you are thinking. Business person who overestimates their value to company. No. I will divide equity equally with the right person and am not only looking for someone to develop the site but for a true business partner. Additionally, I would like to, if possible, apply to ycombinator for the summer. If you are interested in discussing my ideas further, feel free to email me (address below). Also, I am interested in hearing about people's experiences working on teams where one person was a technologist and the other person was not or advice regarding my search for a technology co-founder. Thanks. melissa_colella@hotmail.com

lowfat 19y ago
I think 1 business geek + 1 hacker has better chance of success than 2 business hacker. Paypal was founded on a similar model. However, what often happens is one partner tends to underestimate the hacker - either the business geek finds the hacker useless or vice versa. I guess some level of understanding and respect is an important element in any partnership.
- NSX2 19y ago
  Underestimating "the other's value" is a sign of immaturity and lack of experience. The more I learn about life, the more I appreciate everyone around me more. I'm sure lots of people underestimate civil engineers, car designers, pilots, surgeons, micro-biologists, etc. because life is complex and we have no idea how challenging people's contributions are and how they affect us. Having said that, IMHO it's usually hackers who underestimate everyone else's contributions ... until they get to the point where nobody's signing up for their "thing" or they have people sign up, but nobody's willing to pay them for it. THEN the value of business models, marketing expertise, sales techniques, etc. come into perspective, when they realize all the tweaking in the world doesn't necessarily translate into the handing over of the cash from paying customers.
aquateen 19y ago
I'm just curious how you came about this site? This doesn't seem the most general entrepreneurial site out there. sidenote: seems googling "news yc" no longer asks if I meant "news NYC"
edw519 19y ago
"I am not a programmer" - "I will divide equity equally" Aren't these 2 statements a little inconsistent? "I do have what I consider to be strong ideas" Don't we all? I have a feeling that you need to get used to the idea that a web startup is all about building the product (at least at this stage). 2 non-programmers = bad 1 non-programmer + 1 hacker = better 2 hackers = best I really don't mean to pick and I certainly don't want to rain on your parade. Just a quick reality check from a seasoned hacker. I hope your idea is fantastic and you find the perfect match. Good luck!
- chaostheory 19y ago
  I agree. ideas are cheap (and they tend to change too). unless the idea requires a lot of biz dev (sales), I also fail to see the logic of a 50 50 split - unless money is involved
  - ekanes 19y ago
    What split do you think is fair here? Assuming both are working hard on the idea?
    - alaskamiller 19y ago
      50/50
  - dkokelley 19y ago
    Do a 25-25 split (26 maybe, to have >50%) and hold the rest in the company so you don't lose control as you begin funding yourselves. Startups (tech startups specifically) are a pass/fail course. You either all get money, or all get nothing (taken from one of PGs essays I'm sure). It's pointless to argue over equity except in order to keep control.
- sarosh 19y ago
  I respectfully disagree with edw519. While your assessment that you are indeed not a "programmer" may be technically accurate, but, if this is you: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/B06/B99 http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/B06/B99 then I think you sufficiently qualify under a very broad definition of a hacker, or, alternatively, you are quite technical yourself. While you may currently feel you need a co-founder for your project who is a "programmer", you should not sell yourself short. One thing you should strongly consider is just plunging in and trying to code for yourself. Take a look at this article regarding the founder of Plentyoffish.com. Mssr. Frind built the site while learning to program. See, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/business/13digi.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=plenty+of+fish&oref=slogin&oref=slogin http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/business/13digi.html?_r=2&... So one approach would be to learn to program while you put the site together. While this may be rough in the beginning and ultimately result in total failure, you will at least (a) know more about what goes into making a web app (generally) and (b) when you seek a technical co-founder you can be much more precise and clear about what you need. As for languages, Ruby on Rails or Python would both be great. But, just for fun, take a look at Arc http://arclanguage.org/ http://arclanguage.org/ Hope that helps.
alaskamiller 19y ago
http://www.projectwedding.com/ http://www.projectwedding.com/ a YC related company
- colellm 19y ago
  Yup. Know Y combinator funded them. Actually, brings up another point. Curious what people think about applying to ycombinator if they have funded a potential competitor of your company in the past??
  - webwright 19y ago
    How long do you think it would take for YC to run out of markets if they limited it to one company per? It's fine, unless you're aiming for a direct ripoff (at least, that's my opinion! ;-) )
  - dkokelley 19y ago
    YC is an investment company. They certainly do help their investments to do well, but I don't think they would keep from funding a similar company if they think it will increase their potential return. After all, they expect a good deal of their companies to fail. If they didn't fail because of the idea then doubling up through a similar company is a good way to increase their odds. They might not fund competitors in the same cycle though.
  - asmosoinio 19y ago
    There has been discussion about this, and replies by PG, but I failed to find the threads. The outcome was that YC can fund two companies in the same field.
  - ALee 19y ago
    PG answered this in a post that I cannot find, but they don't share info between companies and they generally don't fund companies that do EXACTLY what someone else before did (e.g. Weebly again). Applying is okay though.
    - 19y ago
dkokelley 19y ago
Although not having a programmer on your team as a founder will hurt your chances if you're applying to YC, if your idea is sound and you are flexible you could always hire someone (even contract someone or outsource it) to build your idea, just make sure that person is pretty invested in making a good product, not just "doing a job". In addition to regular pay, you should still offer a good amount of equity (non-controlling) in the company that he's building for. Put another way: A good way to find a programmer who could turn into a business partner is to start on your own and hire contractors. Eventually you'll find one who really gets along well with you and has a similar vision as you do. At this point (and after you've experienced "working" with him) you could bring him on as a partner and viola, you've got a programming co-founder.
- colellm 19y ago
  Yeah. I would not apply to ycombinator without a programming co-founder (I am going to apply to launchboxdigital though). Definately have considered "hiring" someone, but I wanted to exhaust trying to find a co-founder first.
mhidalgo 19y ago
Don't let anyone tell you can't do it, where there is a will there is way. I do have to say that if you don't find someone if you are serious about this you should build a prototype yourself. I think even if doesn't become the actual site , the experience you will learn will be invaluable. Also if I was a person who you were recruiting it would impress me that you cared that much to learn. Plus you ability to communicate with a technical co-founder will be that much better. I also think don't underestimate the power of prototype to get you funding.
Flemlord 19y ago
Anybody else read that as "wedding" or "niche space travel"? Talk about an unfocused startup...
- myoung8 19y ago
  Are people not allowed to have more than one idea at once?
- NSX2 19y ago
  You do realize that people have weddings in exotic locations, which = travel ... and then right AFTER the wedding they go on these things called "Honeymoons" which involve travel, right? So then, yeh, weddings and niche travel would tend to complement each other perfectly for a business like this.
  - NSX2 19y ago
    Right. Downgrade my post. I made a perfectly valid, succint point, insulted nobody, pointed to a flaw in the logic, supported the original logic, and just because you disagree and can't defend your own logic you click off a point. Feel powerful, do you? You showed me!

13 points by colellm 19y ago

lowfat 19y ago

I think 1 business geek + 1 hacker has better chance of success than 2 business hacker. Paypal was founded on a similar model. However, what often happens is one partner tends to underestimate the hacker - either the business geek finds the hacker useless or vice versa. I guess some level of understanding and respect is an important element in any partnership.

NSX2 19y ago
Underestimating "the other's value" is a sign of immaturity and lack of experience. The more I learn about life, the more I appreciate everyone around me more. I'm sure lots of people underestimate civil engineers, car designers, pilots, surgeons, micro-biologists, etc. because life is complex and we have no idea how challenging people's contributions are and how they affect us. Having said that, IMHO it's usually hackers who underestimate everyone else's contributions ... until they get to the point where nobody's signing up for their "thing" or they have people sign up, but nobody's willing to pay them for it. THEN the value of business models, marketing expertise, sales techniques, etc. come into perspective, when they realize all the tweaking in the world doesn't necessarily translate into the handing over of the cash from paying customers.

aquateen 19y ago

I'm just curious how you came about this site? This doesn't seem the most general entrepreneurial site out there. sidenote: seems googling "news yc" no longer asks if I meant "news NYC"

edw519 19y ago

"I am not a programmer" - "I will divide equity equally" Aren't these 2 statements a little inconsistent? "I do have what I consider to be strong ideas" Don't we all? I have a feeling that you need to get used to the idea that a web startup is all about building the product (at least at this stage). 2 non-programmers = bad 1 non-programmer + 1 hacker = better 2 hackers = best I really don't mean to pick and I certainly don't want to rain on your parade. Just a quick reality check from a seasoned hacker. I hope your idea is fantastic and you find the perfect match. Good luck!

chaostheory 19y ago
I agree. ideas are cheap (and they tend to change too). unless the idea requires a lot of biz dev (sales), I also fail to see the logic of a 50 50 split - unless money is involved
- ekanes 19y ago
  What split do you think is fair here? Assuming both are working hard on the idea?
  - alaskamiller 19y ago
    50/50
- dkokelley 19y ago
  Do a 25-25 split (26 maybe, to have >50%) and hold the rest in the company so you don't lose control as you begin funding yourselves. Startups (tech startups specifically) are a pass/fail course. You either all get money, or all get nothing (taken from one of PGs essays I'm sure). It's pointless to argue over equity except in order to keep control.
sarosh 19y ago
I respectfully disagree with edw519. While your assessment that you are indeed not a "programmer" may be technically accurate, but, if this is you: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/B06/B99 http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/B06/B99 then I think you sufficiently qualify under a very broad definition of a hacker, or, alternatively, you are quite technical yourself. While you may currently feel you need a co-founder for your project who is a "programmer", you should not sell yourself short. One thing you should strongly consider is just plunging in and trying to code for yourself. Take a look at this article regarding the founder of Plentyoffish.com. Mssr. Frind built the site while learning to program. See, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/business/13digi.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=plenty+of+fish&oref=slogin&oref=slogin http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/business/13digi.html?_r=2&... So one approach would be to learn to program while you put the site together. While this may be rough in the beginning and ultimately result in total failure, you will at least (a) know more about what goes into making a web app (generally) and (b) when you seek a technical co-founder you can be much more precise and clear about what you need. As for languages, Ruby on Rails or Python would both be great. But, just for fun, take a look at Arc http://arclanguage.org/ http://arclanguage.org/ Hope that helps.

alaskamiller 19y ago

http://www.projectwedding.com/ http://www.projectwedding.com/ a YC related company

colellm 19y ago
Yup. Know Y combinator funded them. Actually, brings up another point. Curious what people think about applying to ycombinator if they have funded a potential competitor of your company in the past??
- webwright 19y ago
  How long do you think it would take for YC to run out of markets if they limited it to one company per? It's fine, unless you're aiming for a direct ripoff (at least, that's my opinion! ;-) )
- dkokelley 19y ago
  YC is an investment company. They certainly do help their investments to do well, but I don't think they would keep from funding a similar company if they think it will increase their potential return. After all, they expect a good deal of their companies to fail. If they didn't fail because of the idea then doubling up through a similar company is a good way to increase their odds. They might not fund competitors in the same cycle though.
- asmosoinio 19y ago
  There has been discussion about this, and replies by PG, but I failed to find the threads. The outcome was that YC can fund two companies in the same field.
- ALee 19y ago
  PG answered this in a post that I cannot find, but they don't share info between companies and they generally don't fund companies that do EXACTLY what someone else before did (e.g. Weebly again). Applying is okay though.
  - 19y ago

dkokelley 19y ago

Although not having a programmer on your team as a founder will hurt your chances if you're applying to YC, if your idea is sound and you are flexible you could always hire someone (even contract someone or outsource it) to build your idea, just make sure that person is pretty invested in making a good product, not just "doing a job". In addition to regular pay, you should still offer a good amount of equity (non-controlling) in the company that he's building for. Put another way: A good way to find a programmer who could turn into a business partner is to start on your own and hire contractors. Eventually you'll find one who really gets along well with you and has a similar vision as you do. At this point (and after you've experienced "working" with him) you could bring him on as a partner and viola, you've got a programming co-founder.

colellm 19y ago
Yeah. I would not apply to ycombinator without a programming co-founder (I am going to apply to launchboxdigital though). Definately have considered "hiring" someone, but I wanted to exhaust trying to find a co-founder first.

mhidalgo 19y ago

Don't let anyone tell you can't do it, where there is a will there is way. I do have to say that if you don't find someone if you are serious about this you should build a prototype yourself. I think even if doesn't become the actual site , the experience you will learn will be invaluable. Also if I was a person who you were recruiting it would impress me that you cared that much to learn. Plus you ability to communicate with a technical co-founder will be that much better. I also think don't underestimate the power of prototype to get you funding.

Flemlord 19y ago

Anybody else read that as "wedding" or "niche space travel"? Talk about an unfocused startup...

myoung8 19y ago
Are people not allowed to have more than one idea at once?
NSX2 19y ago
You do realize that people have weddings in exotic locations, which = travel ... and then right AFTER the wedding they go on these things called "Honeymoons" which involve travel, right? So then, yeh, weddings and niche travel would tend to complement each other perfectly for a business like this.
- NSX2 19y ago
  Right. Downgrade my post. I made a perfectly valid, succint point, insulted nobody, pointed to a flaw in the logic, supported the original logic, and just because you disagree and can't defend your own logic you click off a point. Feel powerful, do you? You showed me!