> Since you don’t know about tech, it’s going to be really hard for you to know how to hire someone who has the appropriate skills Ideally, if you have a netwo

> Since you don’t know about tech, it’s going to be really hard for you to know how to hire someone who has the appropriate skills Ideally, if you have a network that will help you succeed as CEO (these are important and startups aren't fair, as Ben Horowitz has pointed out), then you can ensure you're getting a good co-founder and CTO through that network. > And taking on a co-founder not because they are someone you want to co-found a company with but because it’s the only way of getting a particular job done You most likely do need a CTO, but you also need to make sure it's someone you do want to co-found a company with. It sounds like these are being conflated. > CTO types expect both chunky equity and a decent salary Yes, as they need to live, you should both have a livable salary if you're working full-time. And yes, they should expect 50% equity. It doesn't matter if you raised the family-and-friends round (structure it as debt instead of equity), or if you had the idea. Startups will generally take 5+ years to an exit, and by that point, the amount of blood, sweat, and tears will make any beginning inequity in contribution look incredibly microscopic [0]. > Getting a CTO early on is expensive, and often you realise later that you’ve brought the wrong person on board. Again, I think the solution here is to bring on a co-founder and CTO from within your network, ideally someone you have worked with prior [1]. Altogether, I would argue that the answer here is that you most likely need a technical co-founder and CTO. The article is arguing that choosing some random individual as CTO is bad and unnecessary, and I'd agree, but that's aside the point that you need one; the caveat is that they have to be a good one. [0] https://blog.ycombinator.com/splitting-equity-among-founders/ https://blog.ycombinator.com/splitting-equity-among-founders... [1] https://medium.com/@curious_founder/paul-graham-and-drew-houston-on-how-to-find-a-co-founder-7d3fc268cd15 https://medium.com/@curious_founder/paul-graham-and-drew-hou...