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In a nutshell, everything besides coding. Business formation, business development, arranging legal and financial matters, etc. >How can I vet him without jus

In a nutshell, everything besides coding. Business formation, business development, arranging legal and financial matters, etc. >How can I vet him without just coming out and saying "what good are you?" Try rewording: "What would be your role in this?" >CPA/forensic accountant by trade Fwiw, that's a pretty interesting field to me. The term refers to accountants who specialize in digging up financial/white collar fraud, but some were also among the few who saw the financial crisis coming in 2005-2006 and sounded warnings about it (ignored for the most part). They live to dig through SEC filings and bank balance sheets to construct a picture of what is both there and not there. That's an interesting skill set, question is do you think he can reapply those skills outside his domain, say to negotiations with investors, vetting investment proposals, etc?

pc86 14y ago
He's a smart guy and a very hard worker; my only source of hesitation is that I don't have any evidence he's ever had any interest in startups/business ownership/etc.
- SkyMarshal 14y ago
  So he's smart and gets stuff done? Good start. Do you like him? Any foreseeable possibility of drama working with him? I wouldn't worry about someone outside the HN/SV/Startup bubble/profession never having shown interest in startups/business ownership. It's possible he somehow recently came across PG's or Joel's Spolsky's essays or something similar and realized 'Hey, I can do this'. I would have the whole-hog conversation about it with him though, don't hold back. Some questions: 1. I know you're smart and have a strong worth ethic, but aren't a coder, so what do you envision as your role and responsibilities? Mine? 2. It seems this is the first time you've really been interested in startups/business ownership. Is that true, and if so why now? 3. This won't be easy, the default outcome for startups is failure, are you prepared for that kind of slog and possible outcome? It may sound like a good idea with a ready market, but odds are it will turn out more difficult than it seemed at conception. 4. If I say 'no', what will you do? (if he says, find someone else, good answer = determined) 5. ... had a few others, drawing blanks, will add later if I remember. Reread some of pg's and Joel's essays on people for some more inspiration [1][2]. Try to gauge how realistic and informed he is about startups and business ownership, and how committed he is to this endeavor. [1]: http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html [2]: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing...

pc86 14y ago

He's a smart guy and a very hard worker; my only source of hesitation is that I don't have any evidence he's ever had any interest in startups/business ownership/etc.

SkyMarshal 14y ago
So he's smart and gets stuff done? Good start. Do you like him? Any foreseeable possibility of drama working with him? I wouldn't worry about someone outside the HN/SV/Startup bubble/profession never having shown interest in startups/business ownership. It's possible he somehow recently came across PG's or Joel's Spolsky's essays or something similar and realized 'Hey, I can do this'. I would have the whole-hog conversation about it with him though, don't hold back. Some questions: 1. I know you're smart and have a strong worth ethic, but aren't a coder, so what do you envision as your role and responsibilities? Mine? 2. It seems this is the first time you've really been interested in startups/business ownership. Is that true, and if so why now? 3. This won't be easy, the default outcome for startups is failure, are you prepared for that kind of slog and possible outcome? It may sound like a good idea with a ready market, but odds are it will turn out more difficult than it seemed at conception. 4. If I say 'no', what will you do? (if he says, find someone else, good answer = determined) 5. ... had a few others, drawing blanks, will add later if I remember. Reread some of pg's and Joel's essays on people for some more inspiration [1][2]. Try to gauge how realistic and informed he is about startups and business ownership, and how committed he is to this endeavor. [1]: http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html [2]: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing...