

Idea: Hustler School - ezl

Non-technical people frequently approach me to build them an MVP. "<i>Why should
I work with you?</i>", I ask. "<i>Because I'm a great hustler</i>", they respond.<p>A lot of these people claim to have access to capital, connections,
tons of domain expertise, or whatever. Basically, there are a lot of great
hustlers in the making, but they don't have a track record and can't prove
that they are good hustlers.<p>I'd like to invert the typical "incubator" process. Applicants pay money,
buy into a company, get an MVP, and hustle.<p>First time hustlers, this is where I tell you to put your money where your
mouth is. Stop saying "if only i had product, i'd be an awesome hustler"<p>For $5,000, you get half of the company (an MVP), and operate as the CEO for
3 months. We will agree upon guidelines for success/failure metrics and if
you are the hustler you claim to be, you'll win big.<p>If you fail, you'll be forced to either recognize that you're not the hustler
you thought you were or explain how/why you failed.<p>New hustlers <i></i>wildly<i></i> underestimate the amount of effort it takes to get
traction, how much unglamorous grunt work there is, and don't have a good
idea of how to methodically test approaches to traction.  Many new hustlers
are also often attracted to the glamour of startups but are pretty lazy when
it's not just sitting around and talking ideas.<p>The hustler's job is to take a mutually agreed upon idea (probably an MVP of my
choosing), and get traction.<p>The hustler pays $5k, gets a functioning MVP (that he/she agrees to work on),
options for 50% of the company, then hustles:<p><pre><code>    * write blog posts
    * seo that sucker
    * create landing pages
    * cold call
    * pass out flyers
    * do logistics for our new food delivery service
    * do dishes
    * find an office space
    * learn about a/b testing
    * raise money
</code></pre>
or any number of hustlery things.<p>The "fund" provides guidance on these things, points hustlers in the right direction,
but the responsibility is mostly on the hustler to move the needle.<p>The MVP is what you get, but obviously I'd like to protect my investment as well, so
if it's clear that further development is helpful or required, we'll do that as well.
The hustler, of course, will have to justify the development cost (You are the CEO
after all).<p>If you hit the agreed upon success metrics, then lets talk about building <i>your</i> idea.<p>The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is that if you're really half the hustler
you claim to be:<p><pre><code>    1. you'll end up with a substantial equity stake in a business I think is profitable
    2. you'll have a track record
    3. I'll probably be pretty excited about building YOUR product too, so you'll get that MVP you wanted!
</code></pre>
Show me that you add value. It's not hard, but it's a lot of work.<p>Regarding a 5k buy in -- A lot of people will be turned off by this. That's ok.  Most
of those "hustlers" will talk about ideas for the next year and get nothing done.<p>Any hustler that can't raise $5000 isn't much of a hustler at all.<p>I'll lose some great hustlers with that filter, but I'm willing to give that up for the
better signal to noise ratio.
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orangethirty
Someone who can sell doesn't really even need to have the app written to be
able to sell it and gather funds. Your idea sounds attractive from the POV of
the programmer, but from the other side it is not attractive. You have to
realize something, people who can sell (who can really gather money like
_that_ ) are worth more than most programmers out there. Very few people can
sell than those who can program. The "hustler" can just hire programmers
easily. But programmers have a hard time finding good "hustlers." Why? Because
good "hustlers" already have money and can pay programmers a salary. No need
to dilute their value by taking in a co-founder.

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brianmcconnell
50% is awfully rich. A better way to structure this is to offer a smaller
percentage (less than 10%) which vests on completion of agreed upon milestones
(i.e. completed angel round, N licensing deals, etc). If the person delivers,
and you enjoy working with them, negotiate a longer term agreement with 3-4
year vesting. You may find that he/she delivers, but is a nightmare to work
with, so its important to have an out if that's the case.

I don't really like the idea of charging them up front. If someone is as good
as they say they are, and are working full-time, their opportunity cost for
salary is $10,000 to $20,000 per month.

My personal experience is that people tend to greatly exaggerate their ability
and connections, so its important to have clearly defined
deliverables/milestones, and a solid legal contract that covers less than
ideal outcomes.

~~~
apapli
Agree. Your math doesn't quite work here but your thought process is good.

The opportunity cost of taking 3 months off work full time is significant -
30-60k per the number above is reasonable and I'd suggest is on the low end if
the hustler is any good at what they do.

To give a co founder whom I have never worked with $5k and 50% share in the
company for only an MVP is not really compelling - I could go to Elance and
spend $5k for something pretty reasonable, and retain 100%.

Perhaps restructure your proposition, because your idea still definitely has
merit. How about becoming a technology advisor for hustlers - help them
translate their vision to a brief that can then be outsourced to elance (etc),
then manage the developers for the hustler.

I doubt you'd get 50% share in the product but you would get listed as an
advisor with a minor share, some good $$$ for your time, combined they might
have sufficient appeal.

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josh2600
Cool idea, but I tend to think "real" hustlers aren't the ones sitting around
looking for products to hawk.

Maybe focus this a bit more and turn it into a course teaching hustlers how to
be growth hackers?

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codeonfire
How about a requirement to run laps around the hustler school building while
employees yell "hustle!" at them. Back to the roots hustling.

