
Please stop asking how to find a technical co-founder. - benehmke
http://www.humbledmba.com/please-please-please-stop-asking-how-to-find
======
cletus
Good post.

Speaking as a technical guy, my default position is to be turned off by co-
founding with a business guy unless they have an amazing track record. I like
the advice of _earning_ a technical co-founder.

I just wish more business guys realized their ideas aren't that special,
aren't a magic way of printing money and just coming up with the idea doesn't
entitle you to 75% of a two-man venture. It doesn't even really entitle you to
an extra 10%.

In the beginning, your job is probably going to be to find a place to work,
deal with the guy who's installing the Internet line, buying computers, buying
food, buying and _assembling_ furniture and generally just making things work.
That's all very unglamorous work but, depending on the venture, it's quite
likely your (alleged) business skills will be of very little value (while
you're building a PoC/PoS/MVP).

I don't think I'm alone (as a technical guy) in generally finding business
guys to have an inflated sense of self-importance who often want to treat
technical people as an exchangeable/replaceable commodity.

~~~
retube
> It doesn't even really entitle you to an extra 10%.

Depends on the capabilities of the business guy. The best idea in the world,
with the best technical execution in the world, is worth precisely $0 without
the capability to bring it to market: to build sales channels and drive
growing revenues.

This is a real skill, often over-looked by gung-ho coders with a neat idea. If
you don't have the contacts and the experience of engineering a proper bis dev
strategy, you ain't going anywhere.

~~~
wisty
So, you need a sales guy.

I don't think I've ever met a self-described "business guy" who wasn't a
student.

If someone is a great salesman, they are a "sales guy". If they write ads,
they are a "marketing guy". If they allocate capital, hire and fire, and lobby
the CEO for more funds they are "managers".

When people say "business", it means they don't know what they are able to do,
but want to make money. Or that they want to be the manager, but don't want to
say it.

~~~
StavrosK
What does that make the CEO?

~~~
DrCatbox
The guy that talks to other CEOs, goes to CEO conferences, decides on
strategic development and signs deals.

~~~
georgemcbay
You forgot to mention the golfing.

~~~
bgmd
Same thing.

------
luke_osu
Last week I was approached by 2 business type guys looking for a technical
partner to start a business. One of these guys I already knew from years back.
Immediately I got the impression that these guys were very passionate and very
serious about their idea. It helps that their idea was a good one.

What really impressed me is they had already done a lot of the leg work. They
picked out a name and had a logo designed. They had used mocking software to
mock up most of what will become v1. They had written content for the entire
website. They had already started using their competitors products which only
further validated their idea. They had also reached out to their contacts to
see if the idea had legs and if people would use it. They had a big vision for
what they wanted to do.

When guys come at me like this, it gets me fired up and makes it hard to say
no. They aren't looking for a free ride and they don't expect/want you to do
all the work. They needed a guy to build it and they wanted an equal equity
partner.

That is how you land a technical co-founder.

~~~
wtn
A key point here is that you already knew one of the guys.

~~~
adovenmuehle
I think it's a point to consider but I think the main point is that these
"business" people showed passion and had delivered on that passion by creating
mockups, logos and so forth.

------
TheSkeptic
You don't _earn_ a technical co-founder any more than you earn your first
secretary. _Every_ person who is recruited to join a business must be
convinced that he or she is going to get something out of the deal.

The problem quite simply is that there are a lot of wannabe entrepreneurs out
there who expect someone with technical chops to join them when they a) don't
have an existing relationship, b) don't have a proven track record of
execution and c) don't have anything to give besides equity that isn't worth
anything. In other words, "co-founder" is little more than a title bestowed
upon the person you need to build your product but can't actually pay to do
the work.

It's no surprise that it's hard to find a "co-founder" of any type under these
circumstances. When somebody you briefly spoke to at a meetup asks you to be a
"co-founder" in exchange for 10% of a company that doesn't exist yet, you're
naturally going to be skeptical. If that person adds a reasonable salary to
the equation, you're far more likely to take the proposition seriously.

Additionally, I think it's worth pointing out that wannabe entrepreneurs have
a lot of misconceptions about what type of technical skills they need. Instead
of looking for someone who can build a basic web app (which is what 99% of
them want to build), they look for a hipster developer whose resume is filled
with all the buzzwords of the day. You do not need a Ruby on Rails developer
with MongoDB experience to build a web application where individuals can
organize and share pictures of their pet goats.

~~~
StavrosK
This comment should be higher up. I think that the commenters are mostly
overexcited technical people (I am also technical) because this post panders
to us.

In reality, you have to "earn" technical cofounders like we have to "earn"
business cofounders. I hate sales/meetings/trying to raise money, so it would
be great to have a cofounder to do those things, but I have to "earn" a good
one.

It's nothing more than people having to prove themselves to each other, which
is natural. The only content in the post is the old chestnut of people
overvaluing ideas.

------
wccrawford
I think you de-stress the 'having an idea' too much. Having a truly great idea
-will- attract a co-founder. Well, if they hear it. It's not a magic spell.

Also, being the 'idea guy' might be over-rated, but being the 'vision guy' is
definitely the bee's knees.

At a previous company, 1 man was the vision behind the entire product. I can't
tell you how many hour-long meetings were ended in 5 minutes when he showed up
and made it all clear. (This was after things got really busy and cloning him
started to seem like a good solution.) You could bring any question about the
direction of the product to him and he would have a good, clear answer.

Without him, I really doubt the company would have been a success.

~~~
lutorm
It's true that those people are valuable. But would you really believe that
this guy was the "vision guy" if he'd just said so? The guy in your story
_did_ earn it, so it kind of affirms the OP.

~~~
wccrawford
Would you believe I was a programmer if I just said so?

Only if the answer didn't matter. Which is the way it should be. And just like
anything else, the only way to prove is to do. It didn't take long to see that
he had a clear vision of the product and its destination.

He never identified himself as the idea guy, or anything like that. He
actually self-identified as a sales guy. (And he was, too.) But if all he did
was bring vision to the table, he still would have been invaluable.

~~~
lutorm
I don't disagree with you. I'm just pointing out that there's a difference
between being "a guy with an idea" and being a guy with a proven record of
providing ideas. The latter definitely exist and are valuable, but I did not
get the impression that post was trying to say anything to the contrary.

------
dmitri1981
One thing that irritates the hell out of me every time is meeting a 'business'
guy with the world's best idea, who is prepared to let a lucky developer have
10% of the venture in return for building the damn thing.

I am yet to meet a developer who has not had this very same experience.

~~~
int3rnaut
What would you consider fair and reasonable? I'm one of the people who needed
to read this article, because I am not as technical as I need to be to see my
idea through, but I'm also not a "business" guy--and I am coming into this
endevour with little to no baggage or pre-conceived notion on how things work
--I honestly thought if I ever did find someone technical (I'm paying
freelancers right now) it would be a 50/50 split--but in your opinion is that
undervaluing a technical persons worth on a project?

~~~
jdunck
Read this: [http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/6949/forming-a-
new-s...](http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/6949/forming-a-new-software-
startup-how-do-i-allocate-ownership-fairly)

~~~
mattgreenrocks
This is excellent, thank you.

------
kstenerud
I've already had my fill of "idea guys". Somehow, almost every one seems to
think that merely coming up with a cool idea while drunk one night
automatically entitles them to 50% of the profits (after YOU build and ship
it).

A successful startup requires all aspects of a business:

\- leadership

\- sales

\- marketing

\- market research

\- competitor research

\- product research

\- product development

\- product shipping & deployment

\- contacts in key areas related to your business

\- strategic planning

\- financial management

\- employee management

\- investor management

\- lots and lots and lots and lots of paperwork

\- and of course a million other little things you discover along the way

Some of this can be learned as you go, but the most likely startups to succeed
have a large portion of these areas covered by the founders, at least in the
book learning sense.

So whenever I'm approached by an idea guy, my questions usually go like this:

\- "Great idea. So who else is doing it?" (red flag for "nobody")

\- "Who is going to buy this?" (red flag for "everybody")

\- "How do you know that [group x] is going to buy it?" (I'm looking for
something better than a hunch)

\- "How much starting capital do you have?" (got to at least have ramen money)

\- "Who have you spoken to about funding?" (red flag for "nobody", unless they
are bootstrapping with their own money and have enough for 6 months of runway
and a plan for after that)

\- "Are you going to do this full time?" (If not, this conversation is over)

\- "What skills are you bringing to the table?" (Must have at least half of
the list above, or have other interested co-founders who fill many of the
gaps)

So if you're looking for a technical co-founder, make sure you're bringing a
business to the table, not just an idea.

------
VuongN
I completely agree with this article, I would also add the following. I'm so
tired of seeing these posts on HN--I do appreciate the genuine feelings, but
my gosh, I am so frustrated when I see posts on Ask HN: 1) What should I
build? 2) What programming language should I learn? Both question tells me the
poster hasn't done enough thinking and research on their own and is asking a
VERY BUSY community to do the legwork for them. The questions should be from
this stage:

1) You are trying to build this idea, you've researched and tried a few
strategies in thinking about this [then explain what you're thinking], any
other suggestions before you go build this thing? Fine, this is a meaningful
conversation we can have and will afford opportunities for everyone to learn
from it. Most of us are building something because we mostly CAN'T sit by/live
without it NOT being built.

2) If you're a young and a starting out hacker, all you have to do is Google
your questions. Most questions, believe it or not, have been answered. All the
programming language X vs Y, framework A vs B questions are usually answered
extensively by many other wise hackers that went before you. If you don't
spend the time to read, understand and appreciate those reading/researches
which many hackers in the community had spent the time writing them out
specifically for YOU, all ou're doing is asking a VERY BUSY community to do
your basic legwork for you. No, that's now how it works. Most of us learned
stuff/languages because we are hungry for it. We ask questions on freenode
etct, read articles, books AND discuss in depth about what we're trying to
learn.

/rant

------
makthrow
Good post. "Entrepreneurs" nowadays seem like a bunch of whiners. Maybe it's
the internet that encourages such passivity and hand-holding over the
internet.

You want to succeed? Do whatever it takes. Learn how to code even if you won't
be the one coding the program. Learn to speak the language, whether it's
VC/investing, tech, or business. Sell your idea to a tech cofounder.

I agree idea guys who can't do sh __are pretty much worthless. But I worry
that there's been an overemphasis on the technical side. Sorry hackers, you
aren't as special as you think you are. You have some personal projects you
want to work on? Most personal hacking projects are worthless and even worse
ideas than the ones business guys come up with.

Also worrisome is the attitude hackers have of only working with people with
successful track records. I think that's the exact opposite of what you should
do. People with successful track records have more to lose, and may have just
gotten lucky the first time around. We should pay attention to the idea, not
necessarily past success. You don't see business guys recruiting hackers based
on whether they founded twitter/facebook/google do you?

A great hacker needs to be paired with a great vision guy. If hackers were as
important as they thought they were then all hackers would have made it big
already, and that is very far from the truth.

------
jaysonelliot
I'd like to give an alternate perspective to the Business Guy vs. Technical
Guy dichotomy.

What about your UX Guy?

(apologies for the gender-specific wording; both women and men are "Guys" in
my post, here)

The UX Guy the one that takes Business Guy's wacky ideas and hones them down
to a limited feature set that people can actually understand. He helps the
Technical Guy map out the user flows, often deals with the tedious writing of
use cases, business rules, and content matrices. A good UX Guy even gets
involved with the data modeling.

Your UX Guy brings the insight about how people will use a product, and knows
how to create scenarios that anticipate that use. Those scenarios focus the
work, and usually shrink the feature set.

The UX Guy is the one with the interaction design skills, the usability
skills, and the one who makes sure the brilliant idea from Business Guy and
the brilliant execution from Technical Guy actually result in something people
will want to use, and most importantly, can understand how to use.

Sometimes your Technical Guy is also your UX Guy. Sometimes Business Guy is
(not that often, sadly). No matter what, though, I'd argue that having a UX
co-founder is one of the most valuable things you can do.

~~~
makthrow
I think product visionary falls under "UX guy". The name "product visionary"
by definition means he has an excellent grasp of user-oriented design and
focus.

~~~
joshwa
In the industry we call the "Product Managers".

~~~
jaysonelliot
Are you saying a UX professional is just a product manager?

~~~
joshwa
I'm saying that almost all the tasks you describe above also fall under the
responsibilities of a good Product Manager (at least on small teams, which is
what we're talking about here).

If your "Idea Guy" comes from a Product Management background (and can do all
the things you mention above, plus "Strategy"), then you should be in good
shape.

------
nhangen
As a non-technical guy with a lot of ideas, I skipped looking for a co-founder
and just hired people to make stuff. Eventually I learned enough code to be
dangerous, and with a bit of a design background, I've spent a lot of time
building mockups and doing front end work to fill in the gaps.

I have found that developers are much more likely to engage in conversation
with me because I can speak their language. This also works great at
conferences, meetups, and local events.

In the end, I decided to try and build things so awesome that I'd have
developers asking to join my projects, instead of the other way around. So
far, it's working well.

~~~
scottkrager
This is exactly how to do it.

It's incredibly difficult to manage your own expectations until you know how
technically challenging it is to build your "idea".

~~~
nhangen
It sure is, and looking back at the way I handled my first few developer
interactions, I'm slightly embarrassed. I was ignorant, but try to convince
myself that I wasn't. Big learning curve there.

------
porterhaney
Can't catch a fish unless you go fishing.

Hustlers should stop asking the community how to get a technical cofounder,
but it doesn't mean they should stop asking technical cofounders to be a...
cofounder.

Only way you're going to find one is to put your idea on the line and prove
you've got the chops to support each other.

------
ForrestN
I think the frame of "Business/Idea Guy" vs "Technical Guy" is a mistake.
Where does design fit into all of this?

I can imagine an "Idea Guy" who just says "let's make AirBnB for pets" or
something, and then the "Technical Guy" designs and codes everything according
to loose goals stated by the "Idea Guy." In that setup, clearly unless the
"Idea Guy" has a truly magical idea that he somehow has the means to protect,
he's not worth much.

But I can also imagine an "Idea Guy" who is also a product designer, who has a
concrete vision for not just what to make, but how it should be implemented,
how it should look and feel, what the process should be like, and so forth.
He's synthesized a lot of complicated things and just needs a "Technical Guy"
to translate his blueprints into a building. In this case, the "Idea Guy" is
really valuable indeed, especially if his decision about implementation
differentiate the business or otherwise drive it's success.

In other words, execution is more than coding, it's making a ton of decisions.
Value can be added by making lots of really good decisions, and you don't have
to be a programmer to do that. Of course, if you have no familiarity with
technology and can't see all of the possibilities, you won't make good
decisions.

~~~
damonpace
You are not talking about just an "Idea Guy" you are talking about a
"Visionary". Vision is what separates an "Idea" from a "Business". All non-
techies should bring the vision/strategy and all techies should look for
people with a vision.

------
jgrahamc
Someone email this to the Winkelvoss twins. Every time I hear about how
Zuckerberg stole their 'idea' it makes me mad. He didn't steal it, he
implemented it. The idea wasn't worth much, the implementation was everything.

~~~
trustfundbaby
To be fair, The Winklevoss guys were trying to get their idea built and
Zuckerberg stalled them (stopped them from doing that) while he built it for
himself.

I don't like the Winklevii, but I think its a bit unfair to kick them too
hard.

~~~
ericb
Not only that, but they actually had found the right technical guy to do the
implementation. They really were pretty close in that sense. In a different
world where they partnered with him, or he was more ethical and helpful,
they'd probably be considered the geniuses of the operation, in a Kevin Rose
sense.

------
khill
Is it possible there's a market for technical people who could help business
guys like this with a prototype of their idea for a fixed price?

I wouldn't be willing to quit my full-time job and work with some unproven guy
on a startup project. However, I might be willing to work during my personal
time to help a business guy build a prototype which could be used to find a
technical co-founder, vet an idea, or pitch the product to a customer or
investor.

Of course there are the usual hazards of fixed price projects. However, if the
deliverable is clearly defined and agreed to up front, it seems like a nice
option for both parties. Business guy gets technical input and prototype,
technical guy gets cash and an opportunity to become a co-founder if the
product has value and a market.

~~~
orky56
Developer Town <http://www.developertown.com/> in Indiana does something
pretty similar. I'm sure there are other but this one popped in my head

------
PaulJoslin
Quite coincidently I saw this on Reddit today:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEGUa3uekIE>

The video is a stereotypical 'Idea Guy' - asking for a rock star developer to
develop his project (for almost free), on the promise of 'riches' when they
strike gold.

It is amazing how many people share this view these days (even more so after
the 'social network' / success of facebook).

Despite the video author's lack of technical knowledge, there is still no
excuse for his lack of research into creating a start up like that and the low
value he puts on the technical co-founder.

I guess the real question to the author of that video would be. Apart from the
idea, what do you as the non technical co-founder bring to the table?

~~~
smallblacksun
The best part is how he doesn't say that the programmer will get equity, but
that if they hit it big, he will be the first employee.

------
jeffchuber
Having an idea to fit a vision is your starting altitude. Great execution
takes it to the stars. The starting altitude does matter.

It's really honestly all about teamwork - not some tit-for-tat, we are better
than you. So don't perpetuate it.

------
kayoone
I am a technical cofounder myself. Still i believe a successfull business is
the sum of many parts, not only the technical side. There are also enough
stubborn devs that praise everything they build but still fail to bring it to
a relevant audience. I agree with parts of this post, but overall i dont like
this kind of elitist talk on here all the time on how everything else than
technical guys is worthless. There a bad business guys and bad technical guys
as well.

------
MatthewB
Excellent advice, I will be quoting him on having to "earn" a technical
cofounder. He couldn't have said it better. The truth is, ideas and idea
people are generally a dime a dozen. For the most part, it is all about
execution.

For non-tech cofounders, you need to prove you bring something substantial to
the table. The best piece of advice in that article is to learn to code
yourself. If you really think you have an idea that could turn into a company,
you should be driven to do anything it takes to build your MVP.

Just starting to code the front or backend will show people how dedicated you
are and that alone is impressive to coders. Also, having a piece of your site
already started will help you explain your idea to a potential tech cofounder
better than words alone can.

My biggest suggestion is to go to "hack nights" in your area. You will kill
two birds with one stone by doing this. First, you will be around people
willing to teach and help you with your project. Second, hack nights are a
great place to meet people looking to join a project.

------
ohashi
I have a strange view of this. I wouldn't generally consider myself a
technical co-founder, but keep getting approached as one. I think I am better
at the business side of things but get forced into the technical side because
who else will do it? The constant business pitches are somewhat boring, I
haven't seen one where I thought, 'damn I need to join that guy/company.' It
feels like most approaches are somewhat desperate, and that's a turnoff.
Instantly what comes to my mind is 'why didn't someone else take up this offer
if it's so good?'

I can only speak for myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if others used
similar reasoning when being pitched (perhaps on both biz/tech side). Almost
always, these things seem forced rather testing interest and seeing if there
is any match. If a founding team is like a marriage, these guys pitching you
to join them as a cofounder are asking you to jump straight into bed with
them, there is no real courting period or build up. I feel like that's what's
missing.

------
gmansoor
Finding a cofounder is like finding a marriage partner. You spent time and get
to know each other before committing long term. Doing a trial projects may be
one thing but its not just a matter of few days or meetings.

I second with "Spent some money" advise. Business people should also prove
that they have a skin in the game by some way. Obviously it varies depending
upon what else you are brining on table, and what has been done before. Money
factor may not be as critical if the business person has already have mockups,
market research, and many things that could have been done before or in
parallel. You just have to show that you are not just looking for coder and
then see if it works without spending any of your own energy.

Overall, I like the post, but title is bit confusing or contradictory to what
Jason talked in the post. How to earn a co-founder would probably be a betters
title.

------
earbitscom
I couldn't even get through this. Probably an informative post, but yet
another one that acts like technologists are God's gift to business people.

It is so rare that a technologist or two technologists, without a business
person, build a killer company (read: not product), unless one of them is a
strong business person, and then what makes them more one than the other?

Honestly, the first part of the post is true - if you're a good founder,
you'll figure it out. But honestly, I just could not be more sick of posts
acting like business founders are nothing but a thorn in the side of the
technology world.

And the comments on these types of post are laughable. "Oh, at the beginning
your job is to make sandwiches." I was selling partners on our product before
it ever existed. If your business person is making sandwiches, it's no wonder
they had to beg people to build their product.

------
abbasmehdi
I think a good hacker/hustler combination is a great idea! Thats way the
hackers doesn't have to deal with all the BS that comes with running and
growing a business and stay true to their passion, and the hustler can focus
on growth, raising money, doing bills, getting the marketing and PR set up and
rolling, think how to acquire new customers, enter new markets, do financials,
find new partners, read through contracts etc. RIM is an example of that, they
have co-CEOs, Google's Eric S was a business guy and so is Ballmer (I think).
Neither is S. Jobs a hacker. My point here is they are useful ... I mean if
your passion is technology and you list all the activities involved you will
see a LOT detracts from the passion. And you kind of need them as a co-founder
so they have vested interest, and are diligent, resourceful and careful.

------
PaulHoule
Jeese, I haven't seen anybody ask this question on HN for the last month, but
maybe I've been working too hard.

------
rokhayakebe
You seem to be tired to answer this question. $10 say you did not answer it
more than 100 times, yet you have asked your professor _hundreds_ of
questions.

You could have skipped the rant (which is not going to have any sort of
effect) and went straight to how to earn a technical cofounder.

------
protagonist_h
Every startup has a technical and business component, but their relative
importance varies greatly. On one end of the spectrum, you have companies like
Google which is a purely technical achievement; on the other you have Groupon
which is a mostly a business achievement. The important component is what
requires real vision and innovation and that may have to come from either
technical side, business side or both. The profile of founders should reflect
what kind of startup you are and what is its "critical issue." E.g. it doesn't
make sense to have a "business co-founder" whose only job is doing some
routine paperwork just as it doesn't make sense to have a "technical co-
founder" whose only job is to develop some trivial webapp.

------
commanda
Speaking as a technical cofounder, it depends on the potential technical
cofounders that you meet. Personally, when I met my non-tech cofounder, he
already had his idea well thought out to the point where he'd made a trailer
video demonstrating some of the UX using After Effects. I fell in love with
the product idea itself because I'm primarily motivated by product ideas, and
secondarily by team members.

I've now got as much skin in the game as him - neither of us is making a
salary yet.

There's no one way to find your technical cofounder - we're all motivated by
different things, and maybe what you've already got will click with someone.
Just keep meeting people and putting your idea and self out there.

------
fezzl
I'm a business guy... who learnt to code. Here's why "finding" or even
"earning" a technical co-founder is a stupid strategy: there's no guarantee
that, even after you have found or earned him, he'll be sticking around.
You'll then be left with half-done code that no other person wants to work on,
and you'll find yourself learning how to code to get going anyway. So, just
learn to code. If you find coding too difficult, you're probably just not
smart enough anyway to be an effective business guy.

------
richcollins
As a technical guy the only thing he proposed that got my attention was _Build
a following_. A strong following can be extremely useful in getting a lot of
feedback early on.

------
ttran08
Loved your post. Definitely great advice. I made the decision yesterday to
start learning to code, but your post made me feel I really made the right
decision. Thanks. :)

------
dowork77
As much as I'd like to agree with this post, I can't. I had an idea and learnt
programming to implement atleast a prototype. Done. I can't go to local
meetups because we don't have any (small country in europe). I posted on HN
(during the "best time") with the title that I'm a business guy with a
prototype. I received two upvotes, one comment and got one email. Now I did
expect a little more earnings here, what did I do wrong?

------
tomkarlo
There are really three roles in a startup: funding, selling, and building.
They're all important. If a business co-founder doesn't have funding, he/she
has to prove they're good at selling. Unfortunately, a lot of business co-
founders with ideas haven't actually spent much time selling, and they don't
have much money either, because if they did, they'd be looking for a technical
_employee_, not a "technical co-founder."

------
iSimone
As someone who you're describing I absolutely love the post. I've gotten into
WordPress, basic PHP, a lot of frontend stuff and a few projects later I feel
confident to actually look a technical cofounder in the eye and say let's do
something together.

------
maren
So true, I'm completely non-technical but I've built a business that is
bootstrapped, ramen profitable and growing - now we are actively looking for a
Technical co but I'm realizing that I need to learn the basics myself as well.
Awesome article!

------
recusancy
Agreed except for the recommendation of 99designs. That's zero respect for
design.

~~~
pittsburgh
I don't understand the hatred toward 99 designs. Should people expect the most
awesome work from it? No. Is it a good solution for startups with a small
budget who can't afford anything else? Maybe, but that's for them to decide.

No designers are forced to participate in 99 designs, and no companies are
forced to use them. What they do is legal and ethical, so what's the problem?

I release all of my photos under a Creative Commons license on Flickr, and
I've received comments from professional photographers complaining that my
hobby hurts their profession. So what if it does? If amateurs are willing to
do something for free, then that should encourage professionals to
differentiate themselves by being better. If lowering their prices is also a
consequence of that then so be it.

It reminds me of people who are against open source software because it
competes with people who make and sell software for a living. Again, should
open source groups stop what they're doing out of respect for people who do
this for a living? I don't think they should. Especially when you realize that
most open source contributors _are_ professional developers who make a living
building software.

I don't mean to disrespect designers at all. In fact, I have a tremendous
amount of respect for great designers, and I've found that you usually get
what you pay for when it comes to design. I wouldn't personally use 99
designs, but I just don't understand the hatred that a lot of people have
toward them.

P.S. If you're looking for a great designer in the bay area, and you can
afford a little more than 99 designs, I recommend Dual Aesthetic.
<http://www.dualaesthetic.com/>

------
Benjo
Founders: in your experience, what qualifications should a "business guy"
have? Is the willingness to do what your cofounder can't or what sufficient or
do you need a certain business/leadership/social skill?

------
jamesdevonport
Wonderful advice, in particular to just go ahead and at least build the user
interface. It is defiantly possible to reach the MVP stage through outsourcing
- just get something out there!

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chadp
This has to be the best post on HN for the full year 2011. Just do it. Start
something. Scramble and find a way. Hire offshore and just get it done.

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tk999
I am a technical co-founder and I am looking for business cofounder. Drop me a
line if you are interested in local market and based in South Bay area.

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lux
How about the reverse?

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2714684>

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WalterSear
As a formerly non-technical entrepreneur, I approve this message.

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jackwagon
You're either building or you're selling or gtfo.

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mcdowall
I'm torn either way on this post, on one hand I agree that you should go tell
them to find their own resources but on the other hand and from experience as
a 'non tech' founder myself even getting some of these items done isn't enough
to get a co founder, you need a good network too.

For clarification, I worked previously at startups where development was
outsourced and I was working as a project manager. This time round with my own
idea I knew I didn't have that luxury and would need to contribute a he'll of
a lot more if I could be lucky enough to tempt a co founder to take on the
bulk of the technical development.

So what did I do, after a few months of procrastinating over the idea I
finally decided what better way to get going than to learn a new language and
code (I already know HTML / CSS / asp.net back in the day). I looked at
languages that seemed to have a good following and active support forums that
if I got stuck I could ask for help in, I chose Ruby on Rails and ordered two
books on Amazon.

It was really difficult at the start but after a while I found things were
clicking into place, albeit using a lot of trial and error. I installed irc
and became active on the rails channel and found the guys really helpful on
there.

So after a month or so I got through the books and figure I was ready to start
planning and applying my ideas to what I had learnt, this was the hardest part
of all and still is. Simple things like image uploading using AWS or Paperclip
I found took me days to get my head around as a lot of this was alien to me
and outside the comfort zone of the tutorials. I progressed and thought it was
about time I start developing the front end UI so started getting to work on
photoshop creating templates and designs, I found some great resources like
designmoo and iconfinder which helped me in this process. After the designs
were done I reached out to a previous contractor who had experience in rails
and HTML/CSS and paid him to cut and code it to fit the view, I setup a Heroku
hosting account, configured the DNS and hosted the code on Github for
collaboration.

I suppose the site was now at 75% ready, I had feedback from a few angel
investors that it was a good idea and that to get in touch when I had a
working prototype, this is where the delays set in, I just couldn't find a co
founder to help with that all important final backend work.

See in your post you state a co founder should bring some of the qualities you
point out such as do the front end or learn to code or business networking,
I've done all of them and more yet I am no nearer to finding someone local who
I can get onboard. I know the first part of being a successful co founder is
being able to sell yourself and your product but I think it's sometimes
forgotten how difficult and time consuming development and design is to get to
grips with. Whilst I know this may come across as a rather random reply I
thought it at least fruitful to show that some non tech founders are willing
to get their hands dirty with some code and in fact the other half, the
finding a co founder is equally a struggle as learning to code

That being said if anyone is interested please feel free to get in contact ;)

~~~
jvandenbroeck
I might be interested:) If you leave your email I'll send you some references
-- although I'll be busy for the next few months. After that I've +-3 months
free time & I'll be going to the UK around January. (or you can contact me on
twitter with the same nick)

~~~
mcdowall
jameskmcdowall at googles email service, look forward to hearing from you :)

