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Ask HN: What are my chances of finding a technical co-founder?

• svennek 6y ago
  As input to your question. A lot of good programmers (me included) hear "free bootstrap techie", not "tech co-founder". (I am aware that that might be harsh in a given specific situation, but over a lot of data, that is the average expectation).. In the bootstrap phase the techie is going to make almost all work (as there is usually very little to do for the non-tech ones, unless the venture is fueled by angel capital from the start (i.e. the non-tech founder has money himself or very good connections). Most of the good programmers are in a point of their life, where either: 1) They have (well-paid) work, and don't need free work to fill up their schedule 2) They desperately need income, due to lavish lifestyle has spend their savings If the programmer is not case 1) or 2) there, chances are they are not really co-founder material (as they are likely too green to make good choices). Just a thought... And no, I am not looking for free work. Did that in my twenties. My worst battle-scar was me spending 3 month full-time on a project and two weeks after the demo was ready, the non-tech co-founder "left" (i.e. killed the project) as he hadn't made proper market analysis upfront and the project was basically worthless...
  • svennek 6y ago
    So if you want to heighten your response rate, think about how you can invent a commitment (or pain-sharing) device.. Remember that for bacon and eggs, the hen is involved but the pig is committed..
    • igorrek 6y ago
      Thanks a lot Svennek. It makes a lot of sense what you are saying ... I have been getting some traction to my advert and I am also realising I need to learn to do at least basic stuff by myself. Here is the advert: https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted
• patatino 6y ago
  What is your idea about?
  • igorrek 6y ago
    Hi Patationo, I posted it here: https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted
• RocketSyntax 6y ago
  It's really going to be about what you bring to the table, and if your idea excites them. Why shouldn't they just execute on this without you? What's stopping you from learning how to code over the course of 18 months and doing it yourself? No one will champion the building of your idea in the way that you would. Learn to program. It changed my life. I majored in marketing. After I learned to code, I got a product job in big data genomics on national dna projects. Now I can build my own companies and am on the 2nd version of my prototype. Otherwise, don't waste your time looking, just pay an outsourced dev shop.
  • radihuq 6y ago
    +1 for learning to code. It's a huge confidence booster knowing I can build anything I want, whenever I want
  • igorrek 6y ago
    Hm, that is an interesting point as well. I have a basis in Python, but I also know that my strengths are rather elsewhere, so then if I invest 18 months in learning to code it is still likely my coding skills will be below average and I will just add another "not really an expert" skill into my CV. You can see some of my context on the link I posted to other comments here in the thread.
• malux85 6y ago
  Post your idea and say what you bring to the table, if you don’t do these things nobody will even look twice because it shows you’re contextually unaware
  • igorrek 6y ago
    Yes, that is exactly what I did: https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted I was not sure if I am allowed to put links into the initial post, so I did not add it.
• londons_explore 6y ago
  Without a link to your idea, your moment of HN fame is wasted...
  • igorrek 6y ago
    You are right, I was not sure if I can post it initially. https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted So, at least ... I got some replies, do you think I should repost? I do not know how it works, because I only recently joined, and did not wanna come across silly.
• aeoleonn 6y ago
  You probably don't want to hear this, so please excuse it if that's the case: I taught myself software engineering so I could be my own technical founder. To be honest, I think I'd want a 2nd technical founder before a non-technical founder. Unless the non-technical founder had some solid business knowledge/skills/experience. Barring that, depending on the product/market domain, I would still seek: technology skills/experience, such as software, electronics, science, or engineering related. And I studied liberal arts in college ;)
  • igorrek 6y ago
    No worries, I like your input. I think I am in the category of solid business knowledge/skills/experience :) And I am also curious to learn stuff and have some technical skills. And I studied political science :) https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted
    • aeoleonn 6y ago
      Awesome. I studied political science as my BA. Afterwards, I took accounting courses at a community college (and 1x marketing + management + finance intro courses). And completed half of a Masters of Accounting & IT. Ultimately though I decided I preferred learning programming, and just wanted to know Accounting for the business management knowledge. Programming (web app dev) allows for much more creativity, and feels closer to entrepreneurship.
• andrejguran 6y ago
  I'd add a different perspective: do you really need a technical co-founder? There is rarely a need for you to have a technical co-founder and usually it's when your startup is highly technical. If it's not new operating system, breakthrough in artificial intelligence or self driving washing machine think how can you prove your concept without a co-founder. First think how can you prove your concept without any technical skills. Can your idea be implemented via spreadsheet? Can you do everything manually? Can you write fake forms and then send email by yourself? If not then second question comes to mind: Can you hire someone to build a prototype to prove the idea? Are you willing to invest few thousand dollars into a prototype to prove your hypothesis, gather initial data and then approach investors to raise initial capital to hire team of engineer that would build the product? Again: rarely there is a need for a technical co-founder and if your startup is not progressing only because you can't find one, well I have bad news for you son. You have 99 problems but technical co-founder won't solve more than 1!
  • igorrek 6y ago
    Haha, I love your 99 analogy! I am in fact thinking in this direction already (eg. Zapier and similar) and will do majority of ground-work myself. But I am also aware that my topic is sensitive, so it will be hard to prove that it works. I am worried there is a big difference between some playgorund and the real deal. I was thinking about hiring someone - but then I also watched Y Combinator stuff and realised it will be very hard for me to iterate and that my failure probability will be much higher. Ah and btw: here is my link https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted https://bit.ly/cofounder-wanted
• Irongirl1 6y ago
  Ok, I'm probably totally biased here...but I'll toss my half penny in anyway. Stop looking. Most American techies won't give you the time of day...and those that will even bother to skim-yes, I said skim-through your ad won't even bother to do the polite thing and respond even after taking the time to interact with it. I am so sick and tired of the rude behavior that I've decided to build all my upcoming projects myself even if it looks janky and barely put together just to prove concept. Once that's done, I'll be looking for tech help overseas. The "tech is God" and therefore we don't have to behave like mere mortals crap has completely ruined the tech people in this country in my eyes. Of course, other industries have similar problems, but for some reason it seems more magnified, probably because of all the VC cash floating around even crappy ideas/teams. Dan Martell's Idea to Exit course-if you can find a live link-is built just for this type of <prototype to project> approach.
  • sethammons 6y ago
    I’m sure to get downvotes, but some unsolicited writing feedback to help with readers: a (en) dash with no space joins two or more words (or signifies a range). This is different than an em dash that acts like parentheses. Ex: mother-of-the-bride is a single concept, like post-apocalyptic. I couldn’t parse your comment, getting stuck wondering what a “skim-yes” is supposed to be, and wondering if it was similar to a “skim-through.” A space around the dashes or using an em dash would make it much clearer. Cheers.
  • igorrek 6y ago
    Thanks for your thoughts, Irongirl1, I am actually based in Europe, so I hope there is some hope left. But I also get your point. I have gotten some nice feedback on my advert at least, so this feels good. I also got some "applicants", however only one followed my instructions. :) Also got bunch of people offering me their service... I will check your suggestion! Thanks for taking your time.
• _ah 6y ago
  First, I'll say +1 to the other commenters here encouraging you to develop the idea on your own first before trying to bring in other people. But let's say you're going to ignore all of that and still try to find a partner first. Your advertisement gives me zero confidence that you have an actual business here. Your idea is: a personal finance budgeting tool, but "fun and easy to use" and based on how you personally manage your finances. I have so many questions! And as a former Product Manager you should have answers: • What specifically is wrong with existing personal finance tools on the market? What is the killer feature that makes yours better? Have you tried https://lunchmoney.app/ https://lunchmoney.app/ ? • Let's see those wireframes! User journeys! Something! Right now I'm left with the assumption that you've sketched out some login dialogs and a transaction list but haven't thought beyond that. • Where's your user research? If you're looking for a cofounder, that implies that you have a thing that needs to be built. Do you know what that thing is? Have you validated with real people that this is a real problem they have? How many user interviews have you done? Again, my assumption is that you've done none of this. • What will be your role in the business? How do you propose that you earn your 50% of the equity? Remember that "idea guy" is worth nothing... you need to bring sales chops, key relationships / industry credibility, recruiting ability, investment money, or some combination thereof. • If you've actually thought through this stuff and don't want to reveal your secrets, why not? No one is going to copy you (probably), and you'll get key insight into your market. Before you can ever sell this to a consumer you need to sell it to your early partners. Finally, remember that some of the best cofounder partnerships work because the people involved have prior history working together professionally. Which of your former co-workers could you convince to quit their job and join you? If none of them, why not? What would you need to do to strengthen your pitch? Do that.
  • igorrek 6y ago
    Hi _ah, thanks a lot for this input, it really helps. I wish I read some of these points a couple of weeks ago, but ok, can't complain. You are right, especially about user-research. I will do that. I got some people interested, but again, you are right, feels like a blind date. And of course it feels really weird to just publish everything. So, how would you tackle it? Just publish and hope nobody does it? Thanks again!