
How to evaluate a non-technical co-founder - nathanh
http://blog.hirelite.com/how-to-evaluate-a-non-technical-co-founder
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GeoffreyHull
I'll probably get down-voted for this being as though this is Hacker News and
the majority of people here are "tech types" as opposed to "biz types".
However as a biz founder its probably necessary to speak up:

Common philosophies I hear exposited in tech circles is, "Biz co-founders are
a dime a dozen" and “Good ideas, in and of themselves, are worthless”. The
argument being everyone on the planet is capable of formulating ideas, thus
“good” ideas can be found in overwhelming abundance. One may hear this
suggestion advanced amongst mostly “tech types”, such as programmers,
developers, engineers, etc. Many of them believe value is derived from the
conversion of an idea into a physical product. What group of people are
typically required to convert the idea into a physical product? Why the
programmers, developers, and engineers of course! In this type of climate, the
notion that good ideas alone being worthless or that biz co-founders are worth
less than their tech counterparts becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. This
notion is advanced by none other than those that stand to gain the most from
it: the programmers, developers, and engineers. Sorry guys. I don't buy it.
Read more on this phenomenon here:
<http://thegeoffreyhull.com/post/3767537182>.

~~~
jayp
Part of your blog is a verbatim duplicate of
[http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/we-dont-get-out-of-bed-
for-...](http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/we-dont-get-out-of-bed-for-less-
than-10000-per-day)

For someone who values original ideas highly, this is a theft of the highest
order. Wouldn't you agree?

~~~
GeoffreyHull
Interesting how you completely missed the section where I cited Sebastian's
blog as a source of inspiration for my article. To prevent any further
misunderstandings, I've denoted the origins of the text with a big block of
quotes to make it absolutely clear. I reject your assertion of "theft".

~~~
jayp
I never saw a link to Sebastian's blog in your original article. So, yes,
maybe I missed it. However, it was not "inspired". It was a verbatim copy
without any indication of it being so.

I am glad you edited the article to explicitly give credit where it is due.

~~~
GeoffreyHull
My apologies. I'm hoping its more clear now

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bpeters
Being a biz founder I picked up technical skills and built a crappy (MVP of
MVP's) prototype to pitch to tech founders. If the non-tech founder can't even
learn enough code to get anything built then I would be concerned for their
level of dedication for their own idea.

Even though my prototype was terrible and even made the other founders laugh,
they could see my level of dedication and my ability to get something done.

To me being a biz founder we need to be the scapegoat of the startup, no pride
all humility and can sell the shit out of anything.

~~~
trustfundbaby
If the non-tech founder can't even learn enough code to get anything built
then I would be concerned for their level of dedication for their own idea.

\---------------------

I think thats a little much.

Part of being a good business man is knowing where you weaknesses lie, and
knowing how to plug those holes in your game. So why would you waste valuable
time trying to pick up a skill that you're probably not interesting in having
and will probably not put to use, when you can spend that time raising money
to hire a developer or get one to come in with you and handle the development?

~~~
PaulHoule
There's as much skill involved in managing/leading a software development
process as there is in actually doing software development.

I've got a lot of respect for somebody who can scrape up some dough, envision
a product, and get somebody to make it. Unfortunately, too many people think
that their skills as a salesperson, manager, hairdresser, chemist or whatever
empower them to lead a software development effort and too frequently they
fail.

~~~
trustfundbaby
Right, but you can learn enough about the software development process without
getting into the nitty gritty of how anonymous functions in Javascript work.

------
jonnathanson
1) Non-tech co-founders need to really understand their target segment on an
intimate level. They may not be able to write all the code, but they should be
the masters of the user domain and/or business domain that the product is
going to serve. They should know what the right strategic goals of the
business should be, given their target user. They should know exactly what
problem they're trying to solve, for whom, and (roughly) how.

2) They should also have strong, well-informed opinions about UX. Take them to
task on what makes a good UX or even a good UI. Press them for examples of
good and bad UX design, or have them walk you through a mockup of something
you've done in the past. You should be interviewing them just as much as
they're interviewing you. They should have theories and opinions on how UX
affects _business strategy_ , and vice versa, and not just opinions on what
looks pretty or simple. You want to get the impression that this person would
have made (or was) a great product manager at a big company, had he or she not
been a founder.

3) They should be great salesmen (or women), but _not_ bullshit artists.
There's often a fine line here, but the red flags are usually obvious. Look at
his or her track record. Look at the realism of his or her vision. Look at his
or her ability to model and properly account for risk, competitive threat,
etc. If you can pinpoint a critical dependency or risk to the business that he
or she can't, that's a bad sign.

4) They should be willing and able to bust their asses and constantly learn.
They should not expect to kick back and let you build the product for them.
Sort of hard to suss this out in conversation alone, but track record
evaluation -- and careful probing about the vision -- should tease out some
hints in this direction. A sense of entitlement, or of learned helplessness,
usually outs itself under polite conversational fire.

~~~
wcgortel
As a non-technical guy, I'd like very much to be evaluated on those criteria.
I think ya'll should be looking for something else though: Will this guy need
to hire a ton of employees?

If you're looking at someone with a history, that history needs to be
evaluated both in the context of the corporate resources available and the
size of his team. Be aware that managing a large team might mean helplessness
in a small one.

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PaulHoule
The article oddly seems to be a converse of the often asked "how do i find a
technical co-founder?" It seems to assume that you're a technical person who
is looking for somebody else's start-up to join.

Personally I'd like to know what to do if you're a technical person with some
technical ~AND~ business ideas, who's got a product that's got a little
traction and is looking for someone who can help with marketing and execution.

~~~
Rariel
I think it depends on what type of marketing you need, e.g. online ad sales?
B2b? Where you're trying to go with your startup or business probably should
determine what type of help you need.

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baberuth
A lot of good points in there, but it seems to be a little bit on the
"developer centric fantasy" side of things, particularly on the _Traction_
section.

Non tech cofounders that are getting 30 users before trying to find a
technical cofounder aren't having trouble finding tech cofounders. Non tech
cofounders that have 10 people committed to paying up to 1000/mo and signed
letters of intent from the 5 of them (120k/year, 60k guaranteed) before
building a product are few and far between.

These guys are gems, and betting on them is a good bet. Its like non-tech
founders trying to partner with proven Facebook employee #13. Unless you're
equally proven as a dev, its hard to justify asking for that level of
accomplishment from your cofounder.

Much of the "find a cofounder" game is about making good decisions when its
not such an obvious call.

~~~
haploid
"Non tech cofounders that have 10 people committed to paying up to 1000/mo and
signed letters of intent from the 5 of them (120k/year, 60k guaranteed) before
building a product are few and far between."

What? I would suggest that the abovereferenced set of cofounders is equal to
the null set.

I can't imagine anyone dumb enough to commit to a $12k annual contract for
vaporware from a company whose very existence is contingent on finding 9 other
suckers just as dumb as you are. The closest model I can think of is games
software publishing, but that exists in an area with a known customer base.
Nobody in the real world, running a real enterprise, with real money on the
line, would gamble like that - at least none of the people I work with.

~~~
dman
Well definitely not the null set. Bloomberg had Merill Lynch basically fund
his entire development before the product even existed.

~~~
ig1
Merill Lynch also took an equity stake in Bloomberg, which isn't the scenario
under discussion here.

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lolizbak
Good points. The contrary is way more difficult i think... (me being a biz
founder, finding tech partners or employees can be really tricky).

For the non-tech guys, in an early stage startup, i would definitely look at :

\- product skills => can the guy understand what customers/users need ? and if
he doesn't, will he ask them?

\- tech skills => you guys need to speak the same language. even if he's a
beginner, has he tried coding in RoR, php, python, ...? will you speak the
same language?

\- network => does he know investors and bloggers? or at least know people who
know them?

\- traction and community => can the guy move heaven and earth to get people
on board?

\- recklessness => is he okay with the risk, the absence of salary, the non-
benefits, ...?

~~~
lolizbak
And actually, the most important thing: he crashed a startup already, and one
of the reasons, he reckons, was the lack of a tech cofounder. You got yourself
a jewel in that case :)

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gersh
As a technical founder, should I bring in a business co-founder? I think the
article is pretty good. I'd want someone who is:

\- Can sell without BSing.

\- Knows how to get in touch with important people

\- Good at pitching to investors

\- Real personable and good at communicating with customers

\- Can write well

\- Has an eye for UX

\- Has enough technical knowledge to communicate technical issues with
customers

\- Understands startups

A non-technical co-founder needs to have skills. They just aren't technical. I
think the term non-technical co-founder is misleading because it defines
someone but what they can't do. I'd rather say sale founder or biz-dev
founder.

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nhangen
I'm a NT co-founder trying to become a technical founder, so this is an
interesting read. To be honest, I think the most value that someone like that
can bring is a network. If you can get introductions, some PR, and some buzz,
then you can get enough cash from sales to buy some of the other necessities.

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petervandijck
Easiest way: what have they done in the past. Past performance and future
performance and all that.

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tuhin
I am curious here. Does a UI Designer fall in the category of a Non technical
co-founder? If so how do the dynamics change when a designer approaches a
developer to co-found a team for an idea that the designer came up with?

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semerda
In my opinion the following 3 key traits will get you at least 90% of the
way..

a. the "right attitude",

b. someone that can "challenge you" and

c. "know the industry" which your competing in really well.

The rest can be learnt on the job.

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daralthus
To answer the question, I would advise you to go on a startup weekend.

(54 hour hackmarathon, but not just developers, but marketing and biz people
also)

