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Ask HN: I got $100K, But I Want Co-Founders, Not Employees. What do I do?
i just closed a $100K round at a very nice valuation from individual angels within my network along with some from friends and family. The thing is, it's pre-product (the investors know that) and I have a very technical team but none of them who I would consider to be my co-founders just because of their inability (due to school and work) to dedicate their time into the company as much as I do - thus, I have a huge majority of the company shares.
I'll be the first to admit that there are many more talented developers than me and because of that, I want to put my efforts into what I'm good at which is on the business side. However, I really seek a technical co-founder who believes in the product more than wanting to take a paycheck.
With the money that we have, I thought it'd be easy to recruit talented developers who would rather take more equity/less cash than ones who want more cash than equity. However, it is not easier - it's definitely harder.
I know I took my startup in a weird process. It's usually find a team, make a product, put it to market, raise money - but for me it was half-ass find a team (although very talented), raise money, make a product, put it to market. Now it's biting me in the ass.
So HN, what should I do to find a talented technical co-founder who will take the CTO position and lead the rest of my teammates? What else do you suggest that I do?
- smokestack 16y agoI suppose HN isn't a bad place to start. Can you tell us anything about your product?
- igotmoney 16y agoit sounds really naive to say this, but i really don't want to because i know a couple HN peeps would recognize who i am. that might not be good :( i'm in a very complicated situation. honestly, the team is fine as it is now, but obviously with this being my first startup and all, i want to have a co-founder who is really cool, talented and willing to dedicate him/herself to Redeemr full-time in both mental and physical ways. it's literally too much work for poor old me to be leading both business and the tech end of this company...
- smokestack 16y agoIf you're in SF and want to chat, drop me a line. I'm out of work for the moment and itching to dive head first into something. adhall at gmail
- money19133 16y agoI have nothing of value to add but just wanted to let you know that I seem to be finding myself in a similar situation. I'll keep an eye on your thread as well.
- sagacity 16y ago> What else do you suggest that I do? You've already done one of the best things you could; i.e. post here. Now, I suggest the following 3 steps: 1. Put your e-mail in your profile 2. Keep checking your mail and 3. Keep checking this thread and go from there. I'm reasonably sure something will come up. All the best.
- imkevingao 16y ago1. Find few friends you know that are involved in the tech industry, see if they're qualified, if not, ask them for leads to competent people. 2. Post on the web, that's less reliable, but you might find someone nearby. CTO + lead, that's a hard role to find because you're looking at a more experienced person than someone relatively young. If you are determined, just network around your area and you might stumble upon your Sergey if your name happens to be Larry, you'll never know.