

Tell HN: Looking for a Co-founder - jiganti

Hey guys, I live in San Francisco and have a few ideas that I would like to find a partner with. I am willing to pay for a programmer's work (at an agreed upon rate) as well as split equity.<p>I am working with a co-founder who lives on the east coast for two halfway completed projects (my ideas, his programming); the URLs are in my profile. I would like to work with someone in the city for a few neat projects; I apologize if this post isn't in the appropriate place, but I feel like payment for services in addition to equity split is an attractive offer to some in the HN community.<p>If you are interested and/or want to hear about my current projects, please email me.
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mindcrime
You'll probably get some emails, but here are a few thoughts for you:

1\. You should do a better job of selling yourself. Nothing in your post
screams out "this is I guy I _need_ get get in touch with." Tell us what you
bring to the table besides "a few neat ideas." Do you have a track record of
success raising money, or selling something for actual money? Or some previous
successful startup in your background? Have you done any customer development,
market research, etc? Is there any demonstrable reason to think that your
ideas are worth pursuing?

2\. There are actually some red flags here that scream "warning." You're
already working with somebody on two partially completed projects, and you
want to jump into something else? That and the phrasing like "a few neat
projects" could kinda opens the door to the perception that you're just
dabbling and not terribly serious. NOTE: I'm not saying that you aren't
serious, just pointing out the possible perception.

And the question of seriousness aside, there is a practical consideration of
how many projects one person can be actively involved in at the same time.

3\. Make it clear if you want an actual co-founder or "just a programmer." If
everything is going to be "your ideas, his programming" then you aren't
looking for a co-founder, you're looking for a programmer for hire. A co-
founder will have his/her own ideas, and will challenge your ideas, tell you
your idea sucks, or that part of it sucks, or that it's not possible, or that
it's not practical; and will point out alternatives, suggest features,
identify flaws and otherwise help develop the direction for the product(s).

4\. Why not go ahead and share something about what you're working on? Give a
tease or taste, to get people interested. I'm sure more than a few people are
going to read this and think "Eh, no clue what he's doing, it's probably
boring, can't be arsed emailing him." If you described your project in even
general terms ("a website for buying petfood online!") then anybody who was
particularly interested in that space would have their ears perked up a
little, at least.

~~~
jiganti
You'll probably get some emails, but here are a few thoughts for you:

>>Thanks for the help, I appreciate the advice.

1\. You should do a better job of selling yourself. Nothing in your post
screams out "this is I guy I need get get in touch with." Tell us what you
bring to the table besides "a few neat ideas." Do you have a track record of
success raising money, or selling something for actual money? Or some previous
successful startup in your background? Have you done any customer development,
market research, etc? Is there any demonstrable reason to think that your
ideas are worth pursuing?

>>First of all, I'll admit that I don't have the experience that nearly all of
you do. Rather than exaggerating what little experience I have, I chose to
simply present what I do have to offer; what benefits I think HN would be
interested in. I have two ideas that my current co-founder deemed worthy
enough to work full-time on; I won't spam them here but I'll happily email
anyone who wants to hear more about them. All I bring to the table is ideas
and money, and if you determine my current ideas to be of a good enough
quality to try working on me with another, we can proceed.

2\. There are actually some red flags here that scream "warning." You're
already working with somebody on two partially completed projects, and you
want to jump into something else? That and the phrasing like "a few neat
projects" could kinda opens the door to the perception that you're just
dabbling and not terribly serious. NOTE: I'm not saying that you aren't
serious, just pointing out the possible perception.

>>I don't know much about the world. I don't know almost anything about
programming. But I think I understand the nature of humans and the nature of
the internet well enough to present ways in which they can be connected. If
people who know enough about programming are able to understand my ideas (I'm
not saying this will be difficult, I'm just explicating the logic), they will
be able to allow people who use computers to use the app to achieve its
objective.

And the question of seriousness aside, there is a practical consideration of
how many projects one person can be actively involved in at the same time.

>>I will do what I can, but again I have no experience. Most of my ideas are
for "viral" apps where no other form of marketing is considered in my thought
process, but if need be I am willing to do what we agree is necessary.

3\. Make it clear if you want an actual co-founder or "just a programmer." If
everything is going to be "your ideas, his programming" then you aren't
looking for a co-founder, you're looking for a programmer for hire. A co-
founder will have his/her own ideas, and will challenge your ideas, tell you
your idea sucks, or that part of it sucks, or that it's not possible, or that
it's not practical; and will point out alternatives, suggest features,
identify flaws and otherwise help develop the direction for the product(s).

>>I suppose my understanding of the definition of "co-founder" is a little
vague. Regardless, I stated what the agreement of the partnership would
entail, so this is what I want; any name assigned to it is fine.

4\. Why not go ahead and share something about what you're working on? Give a
tease or taste, to get people interested. I'm sure more than a few people are
going to read this and think "Eh, no clue what he's doing, it's probably
boring, can't be arsed emailing him." If you described your project in even
general terms ("a website for buying petfood online!") then anybody who was
particularly interested in that space would have their ears perked up a
little, at least.

>>I have the explanations for my current ideas typed out and will email them
to anyone interested. I claim to have ideas of similar quality as my current
projects, so if you like what I'm working on, you might be willing to work on
others with me. If not, it's just a few minutes of bouncing off an idea or
two.

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retroafroman
Just as a side note, I don't find any URLs in your profile.

