

Ask HN: What should you do with non-technical cofounders who're quite useless - chunky1994

I was hired by two college guys as the tech guy for their startup, and they keep expecting me to deliver even though I have exams, colleges to apply to etc.
What's worse, these guys don't do anything, they just keep asking me why I 'haven't updated them on the project' or why 'this feature is taking so long'.
What do you suggest I do?
======
e1ven
Chunky- I suggest you continue to give them status updates on a regular basis,
but gradually drift off to be working on your own project.

By May or so, you should be ready to find a cofounder (Choose someone with
some money, that you trust), and release a your own project, which is very
similar (but not legally identical) to their idea.

After you get some initial traction, take off, and move to Silicon Valley, but
leave your new co-founder behind. Maybe send him off to run the sales division
in NY.

In SV, meet up with some charismatic bigshot (Preferably someone who had their
own company before) to gain some publicity. Use him for intros to VCs. It's OK
to party with him a bit.

When your Cofounder later comes to SV, dilute his shares to the point of
basically kicking him out of the company.

Don't be surprised if the bigshot gets busted for drugs at a party at this
point. He is Charismatic, after is.

At this point, you'll want to be careful- You're about to have some lawsuits..
Your Co-founder will sue you, as will the two college guys you're working for
now.. But don't worry, your company is now on the road to success, and soon
you'll be on the cover of TIME.

~~~
chunky1994
Hahaha, this is brilliant! :) well there's nothing I'd like to do more than
that, but seeing that I don't even have a college degree (and I'm not in NY)
that would be really really _really_ hard to accomplish.

Yet, I probably will start working on a similar project like you
suggested.(Although I have no intention of screwing over two harvard twins by
stealing their idea)

~~~
e1ven
If I were to give you real advice, it'd be to keep working on it, if you're
enjoying it, or you think you can get it done soonish.

They're not going to want to go with a whole new team unless you're very very
behind, since they'd have to train them up.

But don't expect a payout from these guys. They're likely not to go anywhere,
and you're playing "agressively" by taking so long.

So.. Do it if you enjoy it.

------
paulhauggis
This is what I don't like about non-technical people managing technical
projects. They have no concept of how long something takes to create.

In this case, they are your bosses. I would just try to explain to them your
situation. It might be time to quit or find another job.

~~~
chunky1994
I started working on this to get some hands on experience, so quitting
wouldn't really help me much. Unless there are startups out there ready to
allow a novice freelance developer on their team.

------
sganesh
You should manage perceptions. You should give them "preemptive updates" -
Tell them everything and anything, before it happens. Here's a sample template
:)

Things I plan on doing today (Send it the same every day, as early as
possible): (i) Homework - Required by school (ii) Reading 'X' chapters of a
book, or Reading blog, code etc - Knowledge Acquisition To Help With The
Project Or Personal Improvement (iii) Chores - Things that need to get done to
live your life (iv) Thinking About The Project - This is how most "Features"
get done. (v) Coding - Like 'Planning on adding approximately 100 lines of
code'. To be clear, this is a fake measurement that is of no use to any
developer, but for non-technical people, this is worth a lot.

And just before ending your day..

"FYI - I added 120 lines of code. This makes it 400 lines of code for this
feature :)"

P.S: "e1ven" idea is much better :)

------
helen842000
Start asking them to deliver on their own project.

Just because they aren't technical doesn't mean they can't provide you with
evidence of their input. Ask for more detailed specs, Spellchecked and proof
read copy, mockups, copyright free images to use. Anything that will that will
speed up the process for you and prove their commitment.

Ask to see evidence of their attempt at marketing, surveys with potential
users giving feedback on proposed features, active twitter accounts
networking, competitor analysis.

You need to get them to prove they're not useless. That they can contribute
even outside of development.

If it turns out they ARE useless...you know what to do.

------
brk
What were the terms of your employment agreement? Was is expected you would be
working full-time on this?

Have you given them any project timelines estimates, like "this feature will
take about 30 programming hours to get roughly implemented, and I'm working 10
hours this week on it..."?

What they are, or are not, doing is probably not directly related to what
their expectations are of you. Maybe they just have no idea how long it takes
to get stuff done and you need to give them better guidance.

~~~
chunky1994
Well, there aren't any terms of employment agreement actually. They just said
develop this and we'll pay you. Since they're actually my friends I took this
on faith.

No, it wasn't expected that I would be working full time on this and yet they
insist (with daily reminders) that I implement things faster.

Actually most estimates I've made tend to be off by around a few hours, but
since I give them estimates in days, this isn't much of a problem.

------
md1515
Is the company making any money yet? If not and you are doing this for future
earnings, then I would suggest following what e1ven says. As a non-technical
founder it is hard for me to advocate that, but that is the free market. If
you don't offer something beyond an idea, you don't deserve to do it.

Stay legal, of course. If you have signed agreements do not do anything to
break them

------
robgough
You should watch The Social Network - it's basically a HOWTO guide for your
current situation.

tl;dw Steal their idea & make billions.

(just in case it's needed... no. not a serious suggestion)

edit: somehow missed e1ven's post. do that!

------
AznHisoka
I suggest you do your job... You were hired to do that, weren't you? It
doesn't matter if the 2 guys are slackers, hell they could just sit on a beach
all day long. As long as they're paying you, they could do whatever they want.

~~~
chunky1994
They're paying me out of the money that the startup makes. If they keep
slacking off, they'll just be cheating me, but I still don't want to quite as
this is the only place I can actually get some experience.

~~~
devs1010
You can gain experience just working on your own small projects, if you aren't
making money from something then there's no reason you need to work for
someone else, you can gain experience on your own.

------
dholowiski
Quit? It doesn't seem like these guys will be good business partners.

~~~
meric
If you're afraid of burning bridges, find someone who is technically capable
and would be interested in this project, and let him be your replacement when
you quit.

------
polyfractal
Cheeky response: hire an outsourced developer to do your job for less than you
make, pocket the difference. Everyone wins.

