I'll probably get down-voted for this being as though this is Hacker News and the majority of people here are "tech types" as opposed to "biz types". However as a biz founder its probably necessary to speak up:<p>Common philosophies I hear exposited in tech circles is, "Biz co-founders are a dime a dozen" and “Good ideas, in and of themselves, are worthless”. The argument being everyone on the planet is capable of formulating ideas, thus “good” ideas can be found in overwhelming abundance. One may hear this suggestion advanced amongst mostly “tech types”, such as programmers, developers, engineers, etc. Many of them believe value is derived from the conversion of an idea into a physical product. What group of people are typically required to convert the idea into a physical product? Why the programmers, developers, and engineers of course! In this type of climate, the notion that good ideas alone being worthless or that biz co-founders are worth less than their tech counterparts becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. This notion is advanced by none other than those that stand to gain the most from it: the programmers, developers, and engineers. Sorry guys. I don't buy it. Read more on this phenomenon here: <a href="http://thegeoffreyhull.com/post/3767537182" rel="nofollow">http://thegeoffreyhull.com/post/3767537182</a>.
Being a biz founder I picked up technical skills and built a crappy (MVP of MVP's) prototype to pitch to tech founders. If the non-tech founder can't even learn enough code to get anything built then I would be concerned for their level of dedication for their own idea.<p>Even though my prototype was terrible and even made the other founders laugh, they could see my level of dedication and my ability to get something done.<p>To me being a biz founder we need to be the scapegoat of the startup, no pride all humility and can sell the shit out of anything.
1) Non-tech co-founders need to really understand their target segment on an intimate level. They may not be able to write all the code, but they should be the masters of the user domain and/or business domain that the product is going to serve. They should know what the right strategic goals of the business should be, given their target user. They should know exactly what problem they're trying to solve, for whom, and (roughly) how.<p>2) They should also have strong, well-informed opinions about UX. Take them to task on what makes a good UX or even a good UI. Press them for examples of good and bad UX design, or have them walk you through a mockup of something you've done in the past. You should be interviewing them just as much as they're interviewing you. They should have theories and opinions on how UX affects <i>business strategy</i>, and vice versa, and not just opinions on what looks pretty or simple. You want to get the impression that this person would have made (or was) a great product manager at a big company, had he or she not been a founder.<p>3) They should be great salesmen (or women), but <i>not</i> bullshit artists. There's often a fine line here, but the red flags are usually obvious. Look at his or her track record. Look at the realism of his or her vision. Look at his or her ability to model and properly account for risk, competitive threat, etc. If you can pinpoint a critical dependency or risk to the business that he or she can't, that's a bad sign.<p>4) They should be willing and able to bust their asses and constantly learn. They should not expect to kick back and let you build the product for them. Sort of hard to suss this out in conversation alone, but track record evaluation -- and careful probing about the vision -- should tease out some hints in this direction. A sense of entitlement, or of learned helplessness, usually outs itself under polite conversational fire.
The article oddly seems to be a converse of the often asked "how do i find a technical co-founder?" It seems to assume that you're a technical person who is looking for somebody else's start-up to join.<p>Personally I'd like to know what to do if you're a technical person with some technical ~AND~ business ideas, who's got a product that's got a little traction and is looking for someone who can help with marketing and execution.
A lot of good points in there, but it seems to be a little bit on the "developer centric fantasy" side of things, particularly on the <i>Traction</i> section.<p>Non tech cofounders that are getting 30 users before trying to find a technical cofounder aren't having trouble finding tech cofounders. Non tech cofounders that have 10 people committed to paying up to 1000/mo and signed letters of intent from the 5 of them (120k/year, 60k guaranteed) before building a product are few and far between.<p>These guys are gems, and betting on them is a good bet. Its like non-tech founders trying to partner with proven Facebook employee #13. Unless you're equally proven as a dev, its hard to justify asking for that level of accomplishment from your cofounder.<p>Much of the "find a cofounder" game is about making good decisions when its not such an obvious call.
Good points. The contrary is way more difficult i think... (me being a biz founder, finding tech partners or employees can be really tricky).<p>For the non-tech guys, in an early stage startup, i would definitely look at :<p>- product skills => can the guy understand what customers/users need ? and if he doesn't, will he ask them?<p>- tech skills => you guys need to speak the same language. even if he's a beginner, has he tried coding in RoR, php, python, ...? will you speak the same language?<p>- network => does he know investors and bloggers? or at least know people who know them?<p>- traction and community => can the guy move heaven and earth to get people on board?<p>- recklessness => is he okay with the risk, the absence of salary, the non-benefits, ...?
As a technical founder, should I bring in a business co-founder? I think the article is pretty good. I'd want someone who is:<p>- Can sell without BSing.<p>- Knows how to get in touch with important people<p>- Good at pitching to investors<p>- Real personable and good at communicating with customers<p>- Can write well<p>- Has an eye for UX<p>- Has enough technical knowledge to communicate technical issues with customers<p>- Understands startups<p>A non-technical co-founder needs to have skills. They just aren't technical. I think the term non-technical co-founder is misleading because it defines someone but what they can't do. I'd rather say sale founder or biz-dev founder.
I'm a NT co-founder trying to become a technical founder, so this is an interesting read. To be honest, I think the most value that someone like that can bring is a network. If you can get introductions, some PR, and some buzz, then you can get enough cash from sales to buy some of the other necessities.
I am curious here. Does a UI Designer fall in the category of a Non technical co-founder? If so how do the dynamics change when a designer approaches a developer to co-found a team for an idea that the designer came up with?
In my opinion the following 3 key traits will get you at least 90% of the way..<p>a. the "right attitude",<p>b. someone that can "challenge you" and<p>c. "know the industry" which your competing in really well.<p>The rest can be learnt on the job.
To answer the question, I would advise you to go on a startup weekend.<p>(54 hour hackmarathon, but not just developers, but marketing and biz people also)