
What are your criteria to join an existing team (of non-technical members)? (I presume that most YCers are hackers.) - dummypointer

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nostrademons
1\. Interesting product or service. I like to work on cool problems.

2\. Team that I like and trust. Implicit in this is that it's people I know; I
can't imagine working with non-technical strangers on a business idea.

3\. Non-technical founders know what they don't know and don't try to
trivialize it. They don't all have to be hackers, but they do have to realize
that you need hackers to get a web startup off the ground.

4\. Fills in gaps in my skillset and covers areas I'm weak in. I'm more than
happy to have someone else do the dealmaking, the people-stuff, the legal
minutiae, the graphic design, and the drumming-up-business part.

5\. Offers fair equity. Doesn't need to be a majority, but you're dreaming if
you think you can get away with 5-10% (some dot-coms in the first boom tried
that, with predictable results). If there's one other founder I'd want at
least 35-40% (assuming he did almost all the non-technical work), if there're
two others I'd want at least 25-30%, if there are multiple I'd want equity on
par with what the other "primary" participants are getting.

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gibsonf1
One criteria could be: A majority of existing team members have to be hackers.
Otherwise, who will be doing all the work which is primarily technical in the
beginning?

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Leonidas
1\. Technical yes but you will need someone who can find out every single
competitor out there and find a way to make your product better.

2.In addition, you need to be able to find and talk to users who are using
your competitor's product to find out what they're complaining about so that
you can make it better.

You're probably thinking "a hacker" can do that. Ummmm..hackers have no
problem talking to other hackers but how about talking to non-hackers? In
addition, you need to make sure that your user interface is idiot proof to
someone who isn't a programmer.

Another example of why you need people who understand the industry or your
users -

Example: Awhile back there was a debate I had with somoene, can't remember his
name so I will call him Mr.Citrus. Anyways, I stopped responding because he
was too stubborn. Mr. C and his team are building a site that is a women-
related site. Mr.C says that he is going to take on Monopoly X by building
site Y. However, after looking at site Y, I noticed that it offers nothing
better than Monopoly X. In addition, if Mr.C had people on his team who
understood this industry or knew where to look or who to ask, he would have
known some juicy gossip related to his competitor that would have assisted him
to get acquired quicker or beat out his competitor. What kind of gossip can a
non-hacker give him? Well things like:

1\. Monopoly X has a partnership with several women magazines in which the
editor of that magazine would never do an article who is a competitor of
Monopoly X. So that cuts out an avenue of obtaining users.

2\. The recent acquisitions Monopoly X had acquired as well as the new venture
Monopoly X had recently branched out too would provide a glimpse of where the
competitor is heading and who/what he just bought. It would have helped Mr.
Citrus predict his competitor's next move

3\. Understanding what Monopoly x is missing, and fill in that gap or void
because currently, there is a HUGE chunk monopoly X is missing but because Mr.
Citrus and his team compose of only hackers who are attempting to penetrate a
women related industry, he doesn't see it. And unfortunately, asking your
sister or wife for their opinion isn't always helpful b/c if they're not into
the whole web 2.0, kill your competitor attitude, they won't offer much
opinion.

And that is why you would need a non-hacker...on your team...

Disclaimer: This does not apply to dimwitted, moronic non-hackers who have an
idea but don't know the competitors or offer programmers suggestions,
opinions, or even know how they can make it better or why something is better

~~~
jward
The flaw in your reasoning is you present different areas and don't consider
overlap. The way you explain it, you make it sound like a hacker / coder is a
beast more constrained by his class than a twelfth level paladin.

A successful startup will have members who individually fill many roles with
diverse skillsets. For a web startup I fully believe the most important factor
is being able to take whatever vision you have and form it into reality.

If you don't understand the customer base you won't do so well. If you can't
build your product you won't do anything at all.

~~~
Leonidas
I'm presenting the point that you shouldn't lump everyone into one category.
If you notice the anti-MBA feeling on the forum that they are useless on a
team.

Well, how would hackers feel to be lumped into the category of a "beast
constrained by his class than a twelfth level paladin."

The point is: Don't lump people based on their degree

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Leonidas
What do you have to offer to the team of hackers?

Are you somewhat technical savvy? Do you know every single competitor out
there and now how to make your product better to slaughter them?

I've heard a lot of entrepreneurs say "I can help with marketing"...um well at
the beginning there's no marketing because there's no product. So you need to
think of a way to help your team out before the "marketing" phase.

~~~
nostrademons
Marketing doesn't start with a product. Marketing starts with figuring out
what is the right product to build. You should have some idea what the market
wants _before_ you start designing the product.

One of the things that attracted me to my (non-technical) cofounder was that
he has a pretty good understanding of the market space. That's valuable _in
the beginning_ , because it means less flailing around building the wrong
project.

Of course, you shouldn't _only_ be doing marketing, because that tends to take
a lot of time before development, a lot of time after the product is ready,
and very little time in-between. But a smart cofounder (and who would partner
with a dumb one?) can find other ways to help out in the meantime. My
cofounder is learning Flash and helping on the UI end, for example.

