Ask HN: How to motivate a non-technical cofounder

[dglassan]

I've been building a basic CRM system for a specific industry that my co-founder and I have experience in. The problem is that he feels bad because I've been doing all the work developing the site. I've showed him earlier threads on HN about what non-technical co-founders can do to help out but I can't seem to motivate him to the point where he's just as excited about our software as I am. I'm counting on him to handle the sales/marketing part of the business once we launch while I continue developing and adding new features, I'm just worried he's not going to be enthusiastic enough to acquire customers.

There's plenty for him to do right now, but I still found myself putting together a list of potential leads the other day. How can I motivate him to get started on the business tasks like building lead lists and other non technical things?

[staunch]

It's his job to figure out how he can help. He's supposed be a self-starting entrepreneurial animal right?

There's absolutely always something that can be done. Even if it only moves you forward 0.01% it's still worth doing. Even if he needs to learn a new skill so he can help more that's what he should be doing.

That said, it can be hard. The early days are usually very tech heavy. It's not reasonable to expect that he's really creating 50% of the value right now. But he can put in a roughly equal amount of effort.

[markkat]

Personally, I'd have a serious discussion with him. I am a non-technical co-founder, and I can't stop finding things to do.

Some pain now might save you a lot of pain later.

[dglassan → markkat]

I'm going to talk with him and I've been trying to send him all kinds of articles about startups and entrepreneur advice. I can tell he's just beginning to get interested in startups, whereas i've been following startups for a few years now. I'm trying to ignite that spark in him...he's just a little behind

[andrewce]

It could be that he looks at all the things that need to be done, goes "Aw crap. Where do I even start?" and then gets frustrated and overwhelmed, leading to inaction and the subsequent guilt over inaction.

In the non-profit I run, I find that I have to come up with a list of things that need to get done; then I sit down with my board members and volunteers and we prioritize and then divvy out tasks. It takes some time, and my board members are still not particularly good at taking action when needed, though they're getting a lot better), but all of our stuff ends up getting done more or less where/when it should.

The other possibility is that he realizes he's in way over his head and wants to go back to something safer/less demanding.

It seems like you're pretty loyal to this fellow and that you want to keep him around. The thing to do, I think, would be to give him a more concrete sense of direction and see how he responds to that. If he doesn't respond well, then it might be time to have a frank discussion with him and to search for someone else to fill that role.

[probowlromo]

Honestly, if you have to motivate him to do work why would you want him as a cofounder? He should be self motivated. All successful business people are.

I'm currently building a website with a designer. If he wants credit, he has to do some work. It should be the same way for your cofounder. In life it's 90% effort and 10% luck.

[dglassan → probowlromo]

I want him as a co-founder because we came up with the idea together and I'm not going to be able to do everything by myself. He has an accounting degree so he will be dealing with all the financial aspects of the business too

[carbocation → dglassan]

On the other hand, the accounting degree is solving a problem that you won't, unfortunately, have unless your partner becomes motivated and productive quickly.

[fezzl]

He doesn't really want to start and grow a company.