

Do you have to be a 'hacker' to do a startup? - ericseidelman

I have a killer idea for a start-up.  I truly believe it has potential to make millions in either revenue or acquisition.  The problem is... I don't have a programming bone in my body.  So, at this point I'm on a path to locate someone who wants to partner with me in this venture.<p>From your experiences, is this possible?  Should I just say screw it and give up (if you say yes to this, I'll just ignore you).<p>What is some advice you could offer a non-hacker in starting a very technical start-up?<p>Thanks in advance.
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RiderOfGiraffes
You need - as a matter of urgency - to find a programmer you trust enough not
to screw you, and simply sketch your idea to them. They can then give you a
ROM (rough order of magnitude) estimate of the work/complexity/trickiness
involved. It won't be accurate, but at least you'll have an idea of the size
of the task.

They might be able to wire-frame a static, non-functioning web site to give
you an idea, and that might only take an hour. You need data, and you need
someone to bounce the idea off.

And soon, while you have the enthusiasm.

I also note that you haven't told us your skills, haven't told us what you can
do other than just having an idea, and haven't put contact details in your
profile. It might sound harsh, but that tells me you're not really serious.

~~~
ericseidelman
didn't see a place to put my contact info... I'll find that and do it now.

I've been in online marketing for years. Currently working at a large ad
agency as a Sr. Search Media planner. 9-5 is not the way I want to go for the
next 25+ years.

I am serious, and have reached out to a few programmers I know to start
discussing the idea. I just don't "speak" programmer so I'm not sure the best
place to start.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes

      > didn't see a place to put my contact info...
      > I'll find that and do it now.
    

Well, you've filled in your profile, but there're still no contact details.

    
    
      > I've been in online marketing for years.
    

Do you have any work you can point us at to show what you've done and what
you're capable of? If not, can you create something to show off your skills?

    
    
      > I am serious, and have reached out to a few 
      > programmers I know to start discussing the idea.
      > I just don't "speak" programmer ...
    

That's why you need to find a programmer type that you can trust, buy them a
beverage and shoot the breeze, including talking about your idea.

If you're really good with words you should be able to find some way to tell
us the problem you're solving without saying exactly what your idea is. Tell
us the pain you're taking away - that will sell the idea and make real hacker
types want to get involved.

Just my $0.02.

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gyardley
It's possible but very difficult to find a competent developer to partner with
for equity. Especially if you haven't already established a good working
relationship with developers through previous jobs. There's so many people in
your situation lurking around tech meetups that it's become a bit of a
stereotype. Try your best, but it's not easy.

Assuming you won't be able to find a developer to work for equity, you can
make a certain amount of progress by hiring contractors. This is hard to get
right, especially if you don't know _anything_ about programming or at least
writing a detailed specification. Unless you've got a large budget, in which
case you should just skip looking for a founder and hire a pro to work as an
employee, I'd recommend going the oDesk route, relying on the technical tests
to initially evaluate candidates, and hiring multiple people simultaneously to
do the same very small trivial task at first - until you determine which ones
are good ones. There are some hidden gems out there, but you will waste a lot
of time and money on garbage contractors until you find them. This is
inevitable.

Your goal is, through your pocketbook and brute force, to get the product far
enough along that it begins to generate decent revenue on its own (in which
case you use it to hire), looks impressive enough to attract a little bit of
angel investment (in which case you use it to hire), or looks impressive
enough to persuade a developer to join you as co-founder. (Whether you hire or
get a co-founder, the developer will then rewrite all the code your crap
contractors put together.)

As inspiration, you may want to look at the recent Mixergy interview with
Jason Jacobs, CEO of Runkeeper. I met Jason once, and he's an impressive
example of a driven but non-technical founder who's managed to make a lot of
progress. But be warned that you'll be doing a lot of pounding your head
against the wall and the risk of failure is high.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
I hadn't heard of oDesk - thanks for the reference:

<http://www.odesk.com/>

I might point a few people I know at that.

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lifexkills
It sounds like you already know the answer, considering you said you'd ignore
anyone who says you should give up. :)

Of course you should forge ahead with it. Your best bet is to probably to go
with your gut. Look for a programmer to partner with and in the meantime,
maybe grab a few books on programming so you could help (even if its with
menial stuff).

Good luck!

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charliepark
You say you don't have a programming bone in your body. That might be true,
but I'd suggest you at least try to learn some programming basics. Best route
for that that I can recommend would be the Ruby on Rails Tutorial book
(<http://railstutorial.org/book>).

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ericseidelman
does it make sense to find a cheap outsourced (money is tight) programmer to
help start on some of the very basic features?

~~~
hector_ka
You want to make sure that the code is not crappy.It is possible to find some
very good developers that are cheap, but again is not the norm.It depends what
kind of programmer you need (I presume web). Then go with PHP those are the
cheapest ones.

