

YC application - partner catch 22 - ElizabethBH

I have a potential partner for my business that has all the right qualities, minus the technical skills so I'm faced with a dilemma. The potential partner is committed to the idea and the partnership, has extensive business know-how, is a go-getter who is diving in and working on the idea as hard as I am...even though I have not made a commitment to her yet on a partnership. She is a good friend and we have very complimentary personalities. We resolve issues easily and productively. So why the hesitation? When I read advice from PG and JL, it seems to always indicate that there has to be a technical co-founder. My question is, how technical do they need to be? I am a User Experience professional with years of front-end coding experience. I have worked with developers and have been editing code for years. I'm a pro at DHTML, CSS and pretty good at JavaScript. I understand ASP and XML too. Plus I'm an expert with the Adobe Suite, and in the past have learned ActionScript and Director's old Lingo to complete projects. I have run over 50 usability studies and my focus has been prototyping based on end-user evaluation. I have and always will learn what I need to learn to accomplish goals. Am I technical enough? How is a "technical partner" defined? What's more important...a highly technical partner or a highly compatible and motivated one?
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rajeshamara
Typicall tech co-founder in a early startup person is the one who can code
your whole application without any outside help. He/she should be able to go
through the code and fix any bugs if it is needed. This person should have
good knowledge in all aspects of technologies. For ex: if you are using a
website built on .NET Framework with SQL Server backend, generally then this
person should be familiar with databases, writing store procs, building web
services, writing C# code and lot of other stuff.

When evaluating a tech co-founder you should ask with 2 of your guys can you
complete your application end to end and go public without any outside help.
If the answer is yes then he/she can be your tech cofounder.

Since in the early days without any funding, money is tight you should be able
to complete the prototype/product with almost no resources.

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bmelton
This. The main thing to look for in a co-founder is someone who can do
everything you can't.

You CAN have multiple co-founders obviously, but that raises more questions
than anything.

You CAN pay a developer as well, but are they going to care as much as a
founder? Probably not.

To me, it doesn't sound like you have a Catch 22, you just have picked the
wrong co-founder. That said, it sounds like, from the position you're in, you
might not be able to get away with less than 3 founders. If you're front-end,
and she's marketing/business, you obviously lack a backend developer.

You either need to find someone else who fits that need, or start learning it
yourself. If you already know frontend, Node might present the lowest barrier
to entry. The only real alternative is to find someone with business,
marketing AND backend dev experience, which is likely going to be a very hard
find.

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abbasmehdi
To answer your question: "What's more important...a highly technical partner
or a highly compatible and motivated one?" Hands down motivation over skill in
my opinion and experience. I've seen one go the other way, or finding a way to
get help, but I've barely ever seen the reverse. Also, one quote of Richard
Bronson’s I find myself repeating often "Hire for attitude, train for skill."

I think your team might benefit from a 3rd, back-end/server side cofounder.
Then between the three of you should be unstoppable with all bases covered. If
you cannot find that then you're doomed with or without your non technical
cofounder, unless you learn enough to be dangerous, build enough to be able to
afford an employee who is a back-end person, who most likely will end up
trashing all your code and building it from scratch. I'd sure hope you'd
welcome that.

You never said what your dilemma was.

~~~
abbasmehdi
Oh, and in my opinion, if you want to be a successful business person, then
don't apply the general YC rules to your business. Those rules are
generalizations, and partners often make exceptions. Do what's best for your
business, and they will see it too. The best way to think of your app is to
think honestly and truthfully about your business. If there was no YC and its
set of guidelines, would you have considered tossing this person out? How
would you have built your app? Think of YC as a co-founder in your business
instead of thinking of them as a college you're applying to. They will be
impressed by the same things a potential cofounder might be, every company has
its unique set of challenges based on which you will be gauged. I am not
related to YC in any way, but cannot imagine them looking for the same six
things of everyone that walks in.

My point is, give your own intelligence credit, and YC partners might
recognize it. If they don’t now then there is always the next cycle and you
can try again.

~~~
ElizabethBH
I am very glad to have posted this question. The feedback coming in from
different perspectives is helpful, and yours is especially refreshing. Thanks

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malandrew
I think you're looking at the problem all wrong. The question is not whether
she is the right co-founder to present to PG, JL, etc., for the sake of
applying to YC. Instead, you should be asking yourself if she is the right
person to be building a company with. A startup is essentially a shotgun
marriage where the company is the baby. Can you see he being the right person
to bring a company into this world? If the answer is "yes" then start working
with her. Whatever you do, don't base your decision on what YC is or is not
looking for. They look for teams that have qualities that suggest success and
that are aligned with their investment thesis. If you have a team that doesn't
fit into their investment thesis, but is the right team, then that's all that
matters.

~~~
ElizabethBH
I didn't mean to imply that I am picking a partner to satisfy YC....that never
crossed my mind! However, I highly value the experience and advice coming from
YC partners, therefore, the fact that they place such high importance on
having a technical co-founder made me question whether I needed to add a 3rd
partner if the two of us don't cover enough "technical" ground. That being
said, I now have a new question. I have officially made the partnership with
her and I'm so excited about it! I just don't think I could possibly have a
better partner. She is as motivated and hard-working as I am and we're up
until 1AM every night working on our company. The problem is that I would like
to add her to my YC application and I can't access to it anymore. What's the
best way to get the message to YC?

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dgunn
There are a lot of issues that will come up through out the process that
require "general" technical know-how. My cofounder and I are both technical,
so we learn the biz side of things as we go and the tech just happens easily.
But your tech cofounder should have a good understanding of back and front end
coding. Pick a language and run with it. Also, it's not just about building
the web app but also deploying. So being comfortable behind a unix terminal
and utils goes a long way toward making your life easier.

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gharbad
Can the two of you build your vision without (trivial) outside help?

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ElizabethBH
Thanks, I appreciate those answers. It definitely makes sense to be an all-in-
one team. I am leaning towards learning the additional skills I need. Another
option is to complete most of it and hire a developer to complete the rest.
What's your perspective on getting the product completed in DHTML and then
hiring a developer (a developer friend) to build the .NET Framework with SQL
Server backend?

~~~
rajeshamara
I am not saying that you have to build the site in .NET Framework. You can
pick any technology which you like. I specified it just as an example. Before
you hire a developer and pay him, you should write down couple of points such
as 1) What does the web application do 2) What are the core min features that
you need to satisfy first few users (don't get into the habbit of feature
creep) 3) What is your intended audience 4) What is the core problem you are
trying to solve.

Also as a prototype do you really need the Database and other stuff. It should
not matter what database or language or framework you use but you should be
able to answer the above questions.

Don't listen to the people who say one language is greater than other
language. It shouldn't matter. You should pick one which is easier for you and
others who join you later.

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hagyma
the technical cofounder has to have knowledge about server side code,
database, etc, so at least one of you is totally in picture of what's going
on.

also can cooperate with new employees, subcontractors on a technical level,
and certainly can act instantly in a given situation...and probably won't
complain about working round the clock :)

with such team, i would feel much safer as an investor too.

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petervandijck
You're fine.

Google Birchbox.

