
Ask HN: Have funds, want to create a startup - vasilipupkin
through a fortunate set of circumstances I have enough funds to fund a startup at least through the initial stage and can relatively easily raise more funds through my network.  What I need is:  a) 2-3 top notch engineers who are interested in doing something new b) a great idea that I would be passionate about.  I have experience in angel investing and even some success.  Does anyone have any suggestions, interesting ideas, something to brainstorm about?  I have a few of my own, but nothing concrete enough that I would be ready to jump on right now
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siegel
So, essentially, you are looking for co-founders for a potential startup. And
you're willing to put funds on the table. That can be very attractive to
potential co-founders. So, great.

But do you intend to put in funds so that your co-founders have a salary at
the outset? That would concern me (even though there are legal reasons to
actually do that very thing). The willingness to take the risk of foregoing
salary and stability to make a run at something will tell you 2 things about
co-founders: 1) They are risk takers (which, to a reasonable extent, is
something you want); and 2) they believe in the idea. Both of those things go
away when you throw money on the table on day 1.

My take on this - look for ideas and potential co-founders without putting the
money thing out there at the outset. You want to have a co-founding team that
you trust and who trust you, not a team that's attracted to you for your
money. The attraction of instant funding can easily cloud your potential co-
founders' judgment as to whether you folks could all work well as a team. That
could be a potential disaster.

Some instant funding will give you a leg up. But it can't make up for a
mismatched founding team.

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smt88
You don't need an idea or engineers. Look up "premature scaling" \-- the most
common reason for startup failure. It basically means scaling up for
anticipated sales rather than letting sales drive your scaling. Hiring
engineers when you have no product (and not even an idea) is an example of
that. You currently need zero engineers.

What you do need are some customers. These are people ideally with money who
have pain points that can be solved with engineering, and those people are
willing to pay a profitable price for that solution.

Ideas have absolutely no value. If you don't have an unfair advantage when
accessing a market (like having worked in a certain industry, having family
contacts that will buy your product, etc.) then you shouldn't enter it.

You should also assume that any money you put into bootstrapping is being
burned in a furnace, because more than 99% of startups fail. This money should
be completely disposable, not your retirement fund or anything you need.

~~~
vasilipupkin
You make good points, however, you misunderstood my request a little bit. I am
not planning to hire engineers before I have an idea. Rather, I am looking for
potential collaborators - engineers who are bored doing the same old thing and
want to create something new. Fortunately, for the right people and the right
project, I have access to funding. Hopefully, that clarifies things a bit

Also, I do disagree with your statement that ideas have absolutely no value.
That's a categorical assertion. Ideas have a lot of value- I have personal
experience with monetizing good ideas. I do agree that ideas are only one of
the inputs and the details of the execution matter just as much

~~~
smt88
Ideas have no value for multiple reasons. Other people[1][2][3] have written
about this at length, better than I could.

First, they're never new. Someone has already had your idea and, most likely,
beaten you to the market with that idea. If they haven't, it's probably a bad
idea. First movers have a disadvantage.

Second, ideas should be disposable. If you have an idea and the market won't
bite, you need to throw away that idea immediately. Getting attached to ideas
kills more startups than anything else.

There's a good reason you can't protect a business idea in the US, the way you
can protect an invention or a novel. You can, however, protect a _process_ \--
i.e. execution.

I'll give you some honest feedback, which I hope will lead you to a more
targeted pitch to engineers:

I wouldn't work with you because you're proposing an idea-first approach, and,
as an engineer, I don't need you. I have lots of ideas, and I can build the
product myself.

The value of a non-technical person in an early-stage startup is closing
sales, ideally before the product is built. If you can't come to me and say,
"I have 10 customers who will buy a product that solves [x] problem for around
$[y]," then it doesn't make sense for me to work with you.

1\.
[https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236605](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236605)

2\. [https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-worth-value-of-an-idea-
for...](https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-worth-value-of-an-idea-for-a-
startup)

3\. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2013/04/03/your-idea-
is...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2013/04/03/your-idea-is-worth-
nothing-a-rant-sparked-by-the-snapchat-lawsuit/#6381dcdfb702)

~~~
vasilipupkin
Look, you are very categorical in your statements, using terminology like
never, always, etc. Why do you assume I am a non-technical person? I am very
technical :) I am also not proposing an idea first approach. I am just trying
to find likeminded collaborators. By all means, go build your idea yourself if
you can :)

Also, online posts talking about how ideas are worthless are just silly. Of
course, if you want to sell an idea, that by itself will not fetch any money.
But in order to execute, you have to decide what you are going to work on
first. At no point did I propose pulling this decision out of nowhere. I am
interested in talking to potential collaborators who are interested in
brainstorming together. Ideally, it would be engineers who are secure enough (
like me ) from previous success, such that they are not worried about the risk
of working on something new

~~~
smt88
If you don't want to discuss, why post on a discussion site?

> _I am also not proposing an idea first approach_

Then why do you want to brainstorm? Why do you say the only two things you
need are engineers and an idea?

~~~
vasilipupkin
Where did I say that the only two things I need are engineers and an idea?

I want to brainstorm because I am trying to choose what to work on next. I am
not going to choose randomly. I am not a random person posting on this site.
I've already done big things successfully and want to do more big things even
more successfully in the future :)

Also, I do want to discuss. I don't want to discuss whether ideas are
worthless ( I have monetized ideas before quite successfully ). I want to
discuss the ideas themselves :)

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ParameterOne
I have an idea I'm working on. Actually, I get ideas almost daily. What I
don't have is engineers. I have been on here for a couple months looking for a
co-founder. Add me to the team. Plus I'm already self employed so I don't mind
risk and I can sell.

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wesie
Hi Vasili, drop me an email on rume.gbenedio@yahoo.com. I also think it's
important to work on something as a team.

