
Ask HN: What did you wish you knew before you partnered with a developer? - beekums
There&#x27;s a lot of focus around finding technical cofounders, but just because you find a technical cofounder willing to work with you doesn&#x27;t mean they have strong skills. For those who have made mistakes with technical cofounders or just hiring developers in general: what do you wish you knew?
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codegeek
Making anyone a "partner" is hard. Really hard. Whether it is a co-founder or
life partner. I will give you some general advice first before specifically
talking about technical cofounders.

Don't just partner with someone you met on the internet right away. Do a
project with them. Collaborate on some throw away stuff. Write a to do list
together , whatever. The idea is to see if they can even commit to something
like that. Build something with them even if not a software project. Go hang
out with them, socialize, hit the bars whatever. See how they are.

I really think that a cofounder cannot be magically "found" but more like you
worked with someone for a while and realized that they could be a good
potential cofounder. You already trust them and know their work. Otherwise,
you are taking a huge risk and it almost always ends up bad for both parties.

Yes, I am sure outliers are there but they are outliers. If you really want to
find a co-founder, make sure you have enough time with them as non-cofounder
before you even think of moving on with that step.

Remember, the real test of a "partner" in anything is not when things are
great. It is when things go south and I can assure you they WILL. How your
partner/cofounder behaves during the tough times will tell you all about them.
You hope to have an idea about that before you even commit to be a cofounder.

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tylercubell
As someone who's gone through the inverse of this question, i.e. partnering
with a non-technical person, I think the answer would be the same for both
sides of the coin. The #1 thing I wish I knew back then was how important it
is to determine early on if someone is all talk and no action. There are
certain toxic people out there who will promise you the world, fail to
execute, then bring you down with them. Do your due diligence. Trust but
verify.

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tpae
I agree with this 100%. Some non-technical person that I've worked with were
just living inside a bubble. It's really difficult to work with someone that
doesn't contribute other than talk, especially when they are just waiting on
you to finish with the development. If the product flops, they take zero
responsibility, drops the ball, and you end up with wasted time.

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WhitneyLand
Try to determine which skills will be most important for getting your business
off the ground,

For example take 10 developers, even if they are all great they will have
different strong points. Some devs will have a strong product design/UX
intuition, others will be strong at building platforms/performance/scaling.

Also assess non-tech skills. Can they be effective with marketing, writing,
speaking, negotiations?

The point is picking the right strengths for your mission, and the right
strengths to complement your own skills is a big deal.

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source99
I suggest making equity vest over time. Don't just split the company up.
Everyone is entitled to their fair share but only if they put in the time.

