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Finding (and keeping) Woz
[This is a question about cofounder dynamics. I had a cofounder but he is soon departing, so out of respect for him I'll try to keep things anonymous.]
Question: Is it realistic to expect to find (or retain) a Wozniak-caliber cofounder for my web startup before the technical work becomes challenging and interesting? For my startup this could be 6-12 months after launch.
Background: I'm mid-20's, have liberal arts degree, been part of startup scene in major US city for 2.5 years; been failing "quickly and often" while bootstrapping. This January I finally attracted a Woz-caliber technical cofounder (50/50 split). We were same age, single, shared same values, both had part-time jobs to cover expenses, and I thought were both passionate about the vision and building this company into the next Apple or Google or whatever. All was good for 4 months. // Then he says he's bored out of his mind and can't finish the 2-3 weeks of work for the alpha launch. He can't imagine building features for a year while waiting for the big problems to emerge. So he's left to find a startup that, in his own words, "would make me want to pour my soul into it at the cost of something else."
So if he can't see past the "boring" work, is there anyone of his caliber who would? Or should I just expect not to find a proper cofounder until the work gets interesting for someone like him?
- zimbabwe 17y agoWoz was working on interesting stuff from day 1. He also didn't view his start-up as a business. He and Jobs were fucking around to see what they could do, having a good time, and it happened to be an incredible business opportunity. You talk about "Woz-caliber" people like they're a commodity, or like you can track who's brilliant and who isn't. Fact is, if Woz didn't work for Apple, he probably wouldn't have gone on to be a huge celebrity icon. Certainly his later work never got that much attention. And the traits Woz had going for him - a strong technical mind and a rabid curiosity - are common traits. What makes Woz unique is that he worked on something cool. If your thing isn't interesting enough to attract a programmer, then hire one. Don't expect magic to happen because it shouldn't. When I worked on boring projects, I had to deal with incompetent people who didn't care about my ideas. Once I began working on cool things, I got access to the cool programmers, and they were as into the work as I was, because it really was cool work.
- sargent 17y agoWell I don't have money so I'm going to have to make the work cool. Right now the project is like Facebook in that it solves cool human problems but is simple (and thus boring) to build, so I don't know where to start other than use some cool new language I've never heard of (it's currently in Django).
- zimbabwe 17y agoWhat cool human problem is it solving in particular? If it's a biggie then you should have no problem finding an excited programmer.
- noonespecial 17y agoYou don't find Woz, he finds you. If what you're doing is cool enough, he quits HP and stays. Anyone who tells you different is likely selling something. The advice part is to hang out at hacker gatherings and demonstrate in the least poser way possible what you've got going on.
- NonEUCitizen 17y agoIf Woz hadn't been building hardware (hw requires manufacturing, and is capital-intensive), and he had cloud computing, he may not have needed Jobs nor Markkula.
- sargent 17y agoRight now the project is like Facebook in that it solves cool human problems but is simple (and thus boring) to build, so I don't know where to start to talk about what I'm doing that would be interesting technically. I can't show anything b/c its not finished yet. It's currently in Django... I guess one option is finding someone who really wants to learn Django to take the project over?
- CyberFonic 17y agoWell I'm surprised that a "Woz caliber" person would even consider doing a FaceBook-like program in Django. That is light years from what Apple-II / Macintosh were in their day. I'm no Woz, but if you asked me to code something in Django I'd chew my arm off to get out of the trap. If there really is challenging work down the track, why does it have to wait? And if you do have compelling reasons for holding it off. Why not hire someone who is a whizz at Django and loves working in it to get your web site stuff happening? Let your Woz-like guy go walk-about or whatever and call him back when there really is challenging work to be done. If you truly value your co-founder, then you'll bend over backwards to keep him on-board and keep him very engaged. BTW: do you describe yourself as a Steve-Jobs-caliber co-founder?