

Finding a technical co-founder: You're doing it wrong. - erics
http://www.tangosource.com/blog/Finding-a-technical-co-founder-Youre-doing-it-wrong/

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casca
There have been a lot of these "help me find a technical co-founder" posts.
All the ones I've seen have missed the fundamental point: without technology,
your idea is worthless. Your technical co-founder is supposed to be doing all
the work, sacrificing a quantifiable high-paying job. You're networking and
"being authentic". And your contribution to an uncertain venture is "[if]
needed, bring cash".

~~~
sachingulaya
As someone who has been searching on/off for a business cofounder I don't
think you're giving enough credit to what a bizdev cofounder can do. I need
someone to blog about the product/industry, to start cold calling customers
and set up meetings, to write copy, to work on the demo video, to set up ad
campaigns, to form the corporation, to help with the UX, etc.

Writing the code has taken up about 40% of my time. The other 60% could have
been done by someone with no coding abilities at all. There is more than
enough work to go around in a startup.

Oh, and if this sounds like you my email is in the profile.

~~~
hkarthik
Definitely agree, the problem is that most bizdev founders seem clueless about
what their job really needs to entail.

Just as Enterprise Architects often make crappy startup founders because they
can't think down to the low level details of hacking, VP level biz dev guys
make terrible founders because they can't hustle like a low level sales guy
will.

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lubujackson
I don't get why all these MBAs are so set on starting a website business when
they refuse to learn about websites. This is like MBAs wanting to start a
restaurant and trying to find a chef. The whole idea is a little pointless.
You might find one, but really your role is to ENABLE a good chef/coder and
help them succeed. It's stupid to come up with a restaurant name and theme and
then go find a chef - you can do that, but you're likely going to fail since
you don't know anything. Instead, find a great chef/coder, find what they want
to do, help them develop and package their idea and then do all the shit work
that they don't want to deal with (get money, buy stuff, hire people, do
powerpoint). THAT'S your role.

~~~
adennis4
I agree with you to a degree. I was a biz side guy when I first launched a
start-up 2 years ago. What helped me find a tech co-founder was running the
project as far as I could without one. Revenue, seed round, incubator, etc.

Something that I don't think biz side guys understand is that the idea isn't
unique or special, and it will likely fail, as mine did. However, both sides
need each other...and as I've read a hundred times on HN - there isn't a lot
of love floating around for the business side / MBAs.

I don't find tech guys to be very open minded when approached with ideas. On
the flip side, I think biz guys need to come to the table with A LOT more than
an idea.

I recently got an email from a guy thinking about posting on HN looking for a
Tech Co-Founder. In his speech, he said there "is a huge and underserved
market waiting for their product." I asked him - why does your site only have
7 twitter followers, and no facebook page? That is a very commonplace
conversation.

My solution for business side guys is full proof. Don't post on hacker news.
Don't ask random nerds. Quit your job. Learn to code. Screw the snobby tech
co-founders...be your own tech co-founder. Startups aren't something that you
do on the side...it's your life.

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valgaze
This is spot-on: [http://teddziuba.com/2011/07/the-craigslist-reverse-
programm...](http://teddziuba.com/2011/07/the-craigslist-reverse-programmer-
troll.html)

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jonpaul
Can will kill the headline "you're doing it wrong"? I think that it comes off
as pompous as if your way is better.

Maybe these headlines are just used to get clicks? I don't know; regardless,
they are a bit of turn off.

~~~
jdp23
Agreed. The author of the article has no idea of what I'm doing so leaping to
the conclusion I'm wrong (and so is everybody else who reads his article)
comes across as arrogant and clueless.

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geoffw8
Yeah - don't do it at all, thats my advice. I learned to write some Rails
about a year ago, best decision of my life. Yeah, I get its me, but I can't
imagine doing it any other way. When you start your business it will need
endless tweaks and changes, and there is nothing, I repeat nothing, like the
ability to be able to hack them out yourself whenever you want.

~~~
aspir
You are correct. I started, and still am learning Ruby. My normal "business
stuff" can now be slightly automated, I can build simple things (blogs,
"toys", etc.), and its fun to make things. Technical people also love to help
you learn.

Moreover, when it came time for my technical friends to bring on a "business
guy," who do you think they went to -- some random guy from a meetup, or the
guy they traded code lessons for all-purpose biz advice and is busting his
tail to learn the tech.

Ironically, I'm so busy now that I don't get to sit down and work on the fun
projects and puzzles like I used to, but that was the original goal, right?

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loevborg
The author is doing it wrong. Although the illustration is presumably inspired
by the Pythagorean theorem, one robot thinks about the formula
"a<sub>2</sub>..." rather than "a²..." and the other about an equilateral
rather than right-angled triangle. Perhaps a technical co-author could help?

~~~
erics
That's an interesting point. The image needs a shift in perspective. Even as
superscripts the robots wouldn't be thinking the same thing, but they're in a
space of seeking love. Perhaps a bit of flexibility will lead to a positive
outcome.

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aorshan
There are always new articles like this about how this silly MBA type wanted
to throw money at something and make a product or how that finance guy thought
he could give you 5% equity for building his whole product.

As one of the people on the business end who actually get it, who roughly
understands the technical challenges, who recognizes how much hard work goes
in to a startup, I wonder what the percentages are of people like me vs those
described in the article.

