" but most programmers are clueless on the UI side anyways and would be happy to offload that stuff" That's so wrong on many levels. Quit watching movies and

" but most programmers are clueless on the UI side anyways and would be happy to offload that stuff" That's so wrong on many levels. Quit watching movies and stereotyping programmers as akward geeks. As a programmer, I know and build UIs, and know usability probably much better that you. The problem is that in a startup there are tons of other much harder things to get done. You can be more helpful if you can pickup the front end part (XHTML, CSS, Graphics, stock photos, logos), and let your programmer handle the hard stuff (programming the backend, databases, content management). When I do something for fun, I found out that building the HTML/CSS part of it is not much fun, as it is more just an exercise in trial and frustration than just technically challenging. *unless you are doing advanced javascript programing. I usually just pick ready made templates, and stock images, so I can concetrate on the harder stuff. Once done with the harder part, then working on replacing the UI with something good, is pretty easy. and remember, all the good programers want good Equity. When I mead good, I mean distributed equaly to the amount of work they do. Nobody wants to do the hard stuff, and get less out of it. They will feel they are cheated, and not appreciated (one of the reasons some of the founders leave). If all you bring on the table is an idea, then you are not worth that much.