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Not a SaaS business, but an entrepreneur nonetheless. One thing I learned early is that having a co-founder with a serious b2b sales background, especially in a

by spaceman_2020 3y ago

Not a SaaS business, but an entrepreneur nonetheless. One thing I learned early is that having a co-founder with a serious b2b sales background, especially in a mid-tier company (big enough to bag F500 clients, small enough to work with small businesses) is a superpower. My co founder was able to close deals I wouldn’t even know how to approach. Don’t discount sales and marketing. Unless your tech is really revolutionary (chatGPT tier) or leagues ahead of the competitors (Figma), your biggest problem will be distribution and discovery, not tech.

mikeyhfounder 3y ago
That's a really cool note. I am currently non-technical and working to find a B2b Sales job selling to mid-market and enterprise organizations so it's good to know that having these skills would be a superpower for a startup. I know I want to be a founder one day and since I'm 27 years old I've thought that instead I can learn sales skills until I figure out the startup idea worth pursuing.
- spaceman_2020 3y ago
  I don't know where you are on the "non-technical" scale, or the kind of ideas you want to implement, but with all these new AI-powered tools, you can create a surprisingly competent prototype with very little coding skills - at least I did. I'd say that with 6 months of dedicated effort and $20/month of Cursor.so prompts, you can create most basic product ideas you can imagine.
  - elie1 3y ago
    very interesting thanks for sharing, can you share what you were able to build ?
    - spaceman_2020 3y ago
      Sorry, can’t do that without doxxing myself, but its a platform where advertisers and influencers in a very narrow niche can connect with each other. Used NextJS, NodeJS, Express and Mongodb
  - xu3u32 3y ago
    Curious to hear about what you built?
pc86 3y ago
How do you find these cofounders? I've thought about reaching out to semi-famous names in my side hustle's industry and seeing who is at least receptive to seeing what I've got, my vision, maybe partnering in exchange for a bit piece of equity. But at the end of the day cold outreach like that - especially the "hey look at my product please help me sell it" - seems even worse/harder than just doing the sales on my own from the get-go.
- teaearlgraycold 3y ago
  Unless you’ve already got a big reputation - work or live with them. Cofounders I know all either were roommates or coworkers at some point.
  - spaceman_2020 3y ago
    My co-founder has been a close friend since high school, so yeah. That probably seems like the best option since there is already built-in trust.
  - ignoramous 3y ago
    Co-founder matching is a thing too (ex: https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching), but unsure how far it works. Famously, the GitHub co-founders and the Instagram co-founders met at co-working spaces / hacker meetups. Tom Preston-Werner gave an interesting talk on how to build successful co-founding teams and products: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGTpU5XUAA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGTpU5XUAA8
- calculated 3y ago
  Haven’t yet found one myself, but from the information I’ve gathered I see that you can: 1. Go to events where you can meet such people 2. Sign up for different clubs (marketing, tech, etc.) and build strong relationships there though projects. 3. Working at your dayjob, if you see something outstanding you see yourself working with in the future, go the extra mile to show them they mean something to you. Generally I think it’s all about the buildup after a certain amount of time of working in your industry. And not only 9-5 working but just doing interesting projects and attracting such likeminded people.

mikeyhfounder 3y ago

That's a really cool note. I am currently non-technical and working to find a B2b Sales job selling to mid-market and enterprise organizations so it's good to know that having these skills would be a superpower for a startup. I know I want to be a founder one day and since I'm 27 years old I've thought that instead I can learn sales skills until I figure out the startup idea worth pursuing.

spaceman_2020 3y ago
I don't know where you are on the "non-technical" scale, or the kind of ideas you want to implement, but with all these new AI-powered tools, you can create a surprisingly competent prototype with very little coding skills - at least I did. I'd say that with 6 months of dedicated effort and $20/month of Cursor.so prompts, you can create most basic product ideas you can imagine.
- elie1 3y ago
  very interesting thanks for sharing, can you share what you were able to build ?
  - spaceman_2020 3y ago
    Sorry, can’t do that without doxxing myself, but its a platform where advertisers and influencers in a very narrow niche can connect with each other. Used NextJS, NodeJS, Express and Mongodb
- xu3u32 3y ago
  Curious to hear about what you built?

pc86 3y ago

How do you find these cofounders? I've thought about reaching out to semi-famous names in my side hustle's industry and seeing who is at least receptive to seeing what I've got, my vision, maybe partnering in exchange for a bit piece of equity. But at the end of the day cold outreach like that - especially the "hey look at my product please help me sell it" - seems even worse/harder than just doing the sales on my own from the get-go.

teaearlgraycold 3y ago
Unless you’ve already got a big reputation - work or live with them. Cofounders I know all either were roommates or coworkers at some point.
- spaceman_2020 3y ago
  My co-founder has been a close friend since high school, so yeah. That probably seems like the best option since there is already built-in trust.
- ignoramous 3y ago
  Co-founder matching is a thing too (ex: https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching), but unsure how far it works. Famously, the GitHub co-founders and the Instagram co-founders met at co-working spaces / hacker meetups. Tom Preston-Werner gave an interesting talk on how to build successful co-founding teams and products: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGTpU5XUAA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGTpU5XUAA8
calculated 3y ago
Haven’t yet found one myself, but from the information I’ve gathered I see that you can: 1. Go to events where you can meet such people 2. Sign up for different clubs (marketing, tech, etc.) and build strong relationships there though projects. 3. Working at your dayjob, if you see something outstanding you see yourself working with in the future, go the extra mile to show them they mean something to you. Generally I think it’s all about the buildup after a certain amount of time of working in your industry. And not only 9-5 working but just doing interesting projects and attracting such likeminded people.