

Ask HN: Should I move to the valley? - orrinxu

I'm stuck in a rut with a great idea(I hope) with out someone capable of building it. Should i move to the Valley for a while to find a tech cofounder?
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philwelch
I don't want you to take this personally, so I'm just going to dispense the
standard advice for people with great ideas but without someone capable of
building them: great ideas are a dime a dozen, and anyone with the ability and
inclination to be a "tech cofounder" probably has their own ideas. Building
your skills and making sure you have something to contribute other than a
"great idea" is the best way to get something accomplished.

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coryl
He _could_ have skills and just neglected to mention them.

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jacquesm
No, because then he would not have said he was without someone capable of
building it.

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philwelch
It's possible to have skills, connections, experience, etc. to contribute to a
startup without knowing how to build software.

~~~
orrinxu
My personal background is mechanical engineering and my idea is a B2C online
business. My skills is more on the side of contract negotiations and physical
implementation which is relevant to my idea.

Thanks for warning me though, I will definitely try to develop as well as
possible

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samratjp
Well, valley or not, your idea needs to survive in the "real" world i.e. built
_and_ wanted by people. Do some homework on that and get crackin'. Be so good
that they can't ignore you :-)

As about tech cofounders, that's a tricky one - it helps to have an
_intelligent_ tech friend who can perhaps help you find a good one. Like
philwelch said, tech cofounders will have their own ideas and idiosyncrasies,
but you have to clear from day one about what you bring to table. What can you
offer them? Are you a sales genius? A kickass designer? Whatever it is, make
sure your personal secret sauce is compelling enough.

"Should i move to the Valley for a while" Unless you have a decent cushion to
blow for a while or are going to work to support yourself (where you can
potentially find co-founders), don't sweat it.

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api
I don't live in The Valley (tm), but I do live in a tech center (Boston area).

My impression:

The positives: lots of people doing tech entrepreneurial things, lots of
talent, other startups to work with and learn from, entrepreneurial culture.

The negatives: I could fill an auditorium with phonies, con artists, and
impostors... I suspect that The Valley is even worse. There are lots of "me-
too!" ideas, lots of people with enormous egos who don't really know what
they're doing, and lots of people who will BS you to try to get you to follow
them or do work for them. Being jaded and skeptical is a requirement.

Edit: come to think of it, I have been to conferences and pitch-fest type
things in The Valley, and the smell of fast talkers and such was palpable.

So there's lots of good stuff but also lots of noise.

