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First, Don't go to "startup events", meet with customers, other in your industry, find advisors (either technical advisors, or non-technical advisors who have a
by strlen 16y ago
First, Don't go to "startup events", meet with customers, other in your industry, find advisors (either technical advisors, or non-technical advisors who have a proven track record of raising funds, doing "business operations" et al). Attend technical conferences to find programming partners and (most importantly) potential customers and advisors. Don't waste your time around "biz dev" types (especially the ones without a "biz" to "dev"), they're the ones who form the "9/10 startups fail" statistic.
To answer your question, not all non-programmers are equal: much like not all programmers are equal. The types you see "seeking a technical cofounder" are the equivalent of 1990s "HTML programmers". On the other hand, a seasoned startup veteran who may not be actively coding (but, most probably holds a BS or MS in CS or EE) but has a track record of raising funding, selling the product, effectively handling business operations and the like has a lot to contribute (if you're at a stage where you need assistance in anything beyond product development: when this stage comes depends heavily on the kind of product you're building), even if his role won't be development.
- russell 16y agoI concur. If you are doing web or app development, all you need are some non-tech reviewers to keep from making stupid mistakes. If you are looking at the enterprise space strlen's advice is sound. What you really need is an adviser with connections in your target industry to mae connections and open doors.for you. (Get legal advice on how to structure the relationship, so you dont get blindsided by a submarine co-founder later on.) Find the industry associations; attend their conferences; read their journals/rags. At the conferences you can find customers you can work with.
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- mattdeboard 16y ago>Even one of the YC W11 companies is founded by 3 people, all "biz dev" types. Oh, really? So none of these guys program? If half or one-third of your team is biz-dev right from the get go, and is not contributing to making your product kick-ass, you're doing it wrong.
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- nanijoe 16y agoIf they taught themselves to program, does that not then make them programmers?
- mseebach 16y agoI read it as "don't spend your time around self styled biz dev types (with no start-up experience)". In other words, MBAs (with no start-up experience).