

Why Finding Technical Cofounders Is Hard - freerobby
http://rob.by/2010/finding-technical-cofounders-is-hard/

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il
Does anyone have any advice for finding and attracting a technical cofounder?
As a hacker, what would you look for in a startup where you take the lead
technical role and build most of the product?

I would consider myself a hacker, but I'm not very good at writing code(I only
know PHP) and I don't enjoy it. I prefer to work on marketing/bizdev problems,
which are my areas of expertise.

How do I avoid getting dismissed as just another "business guy"/suit by
hackers?

~~~
antics
Well. What _do_ you bring to the table?

Edit: I ask not because I want to be impertinent, but because no one here is
going to make you a successful cofounder. Think about what it is that makes
you want to be involved in a startup, and what you think your role would be. I
find that thinking about that sort of thing both helps you figure how stuff
works, and where you are in relationship to that.

~~~
il
As mentioned above I(and, I imagine, many business cofounders) would bring
marketing, monetization, and bizdev. This isn't vague writing a business plan
strategy stuff, but rather concrete steps to take a startup from a side
project to a business where you put in $X and get $2X back- in other words,
the exact thing investors are looking for.

The problem I've seen is that many hackers view the above "softer" skills as
insignificant bullshit compared to actually building something.

I'm asking for ways to overcome this misconception and present myself as
equally valuable as a coder in an early startup team.

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kevinpet
Don't talk generalities, talk particulars. Don't say "monetization", say "I've
surveyed customers and they will pay $40/month for this".

~~~
ryanhuff
Even that is pretty thin stuff. How long does it take to survey people, or
come up with a business model that will likely change a few times over? The
cofounders should be honest and ask how they are going to help push this
boulder over this hill. That means getting hands dirty and pushing, not
dreaming up strategy, marketing ideas, and other things that can't help get a
product out the door.

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drblast
Maybe these people are looking in the wrong place, or for the wrong person. If
you want to hire me, here's how.

I'd love to be part of a startup, but I have a family and a day job that I
can't quit easily. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I'd be willing to work on a project with the goal of making money with a non-
technical co-founder, given the understanding that I'd be working on the
project in my free time at night.

If you're a "business" guy then you could provide me with the continuity to
ensure the project gets off the ground. You could do customer service. You
could market the product. If you do your part, then eventually I could quit my
day job and we're both all in.

If you want to accept the financial risk while I do all of the technical work
for the initial few months, I think that's a fair trade.

Plenty of people want to do this, but the risk is too great. Make that risk
smaller and you've got a partner.

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ccarpenterg
This is a nonsense discussion. Finding a cofounder is hard because everybody
is looking for a cofounder. Nobody wants to be a cofounder in a social news
site like Hacker News.

Is there anybody who wants to be a cofounder?

I think a good approach to find a cofounder is to look for someone who is
solving a similar problem on your startup's industry or just a similar problem
in the academic field, for example.

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bconway
_This is a nonsense discussion. Finding a cofounder is hard because everybody
is looking for a cofounder._

If that's the case, I would think it would be easy to find a match, not unlike
drunk college kids looking to hook up (but hopefully a little more discerning
in this scenario).

