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Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

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Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#21

Post by dctoedt »

johnmcauley wrote: post #18

I’m a CTO in a 20 man startup and have been through the ringer on several different projects through my career. This is a difficult situation as positive founders that you can build a company with are hard to come by (been there) and outsourcing is a minefield. I would suggest not to engage with an offshore outsourcing company, I have had terrible experiences here (they may tell u they are under NDA so cannot share a…

Friendly correction: You've been through the wringer (as in, laundry wringer, an old-fashioned household appliance).

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-it-through-...

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#22

Post by beering »

rtx wrote: post #19
johnmcauley wrote: post #18

I’m a CTO in a 20 man startup and have been through the ringer on several different projects through my career. This is a difficult situation as positive founders that you can build a company with are hard to come by (been there) and outsourcing is a minefield. I would suggest not to engage with an offshore outsourcing company, I have had terrible experiences here (they may tell u they are under NDA so cannot share a…

Your comment comes off as xenophobic. I know it's acceptable in tech circle to talk this way, but not cool.

OK, so how do we talk about the prevalence of awful off-shore software-development firms without being "xenophobic"? If you're going to lecture us on how we talk, at least offer an alternative?

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#23

Post by dctoedt »

rtx wrote: post #19
johnmcauley wrote: post #18

I’m a CTO in a 20 man startup and have been through the ringer on several different projects through my career. This is a difficult situation as positive founders that you can build a company with are hard to come by (been there) and outsourcing is a minefield. I would suggest not to engage with an offshore outsourcing company, I have had terrible experiences here (they may tell u they are under NDA so cannot share a…

Your comment comes off as xenophobic. I know it's acceptable in tech circle to talk this way, but not cool.

That's not xenophobia, which is dislike or fear of foreigners because they're foreign. A lot of people have had similar experiences with offshoring.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xenophobia

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#25

Post by dalfonso »

ekidd wrote: post #20

I co-founded a startup that had a technically-solid product that people swore they wanted. It failed. I've also worked for a number of successful startups. And I've consulted for startups that succeeded, and ones that sank without a trace. If there's any pattern I can see with the non-technical founders, it's that some knowledge of coding is certainly nice, if only so the founders can talk to the actual coders. But c…

I cannot echo this enough. If you're eventually trying to be the CEO: sell, sell, sell, and then sell some more. If you've got customers waiting, you have so much more of an advantage when it comes to finding a technical co-founder. "I've got this great idea." pales in comparison to "I've got this great idea and 10 letters of intent/1000 people on a waiting list/$X,000 in revenue using gmail and a spreadsheet." (not all of those but the more the better), you'll easily be able to find someone.

If you're eventually trying to become the CTO with someone else doing the selling, then learn to code it up yourself.

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#26

Post by hitech_dude »

I would.like to help/advise/interact with a non technical founder(s)

I do not want payment or equity. I have my own promising thing going on. Let's just make sure there is no conflict - I am in ads/algos/gaming.

Just looking for someone with strong references/connections/SV-background who might be willing to return a favour later on.

I can commit to ~1hr daily for the coming month to help get someone started.

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#27

Post by ackbar03 »

Alex3917 wrote: post #4

> Also, worst case, the project fails but the technical skills I acquired make me more marketable for tech-type jobs. This. The chances of hiring folks to build an MVP and getting enough paying users off that to bring them on full time or getting enough traction to raise money are absurdly small. If you're already both very wealthy and are the single most famous person in your industry then maybe there's like a 10% c…

I would tend to agree with this but there are also stories of successful non technical co-founders who managed to pull it off, although it could be selection bias. Airbnb is an obvious one but another example is DiDi in China. Their story was pretty crazy, they outsourced the production to a third party and that company outsourced it to another company who apparently found some university professor who asked his grad students to build it as an assignment or something. Then they took the shitty app and ran around trying to get investors and I guess in the end they pulled it off

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#29

Post by rimjongun »

rtx wrote: post #19
johnmcauley wrote: post #18

I’m a CTO in a 20 man startup and have been through the ringer on several different projects through my career. This is a difficult situation as positive founders that you can build a company with are hard to come by (been there) and outsourcing is a minefield. I would suggest not to engage with an offshore outsourcing company, I have had terrible experiences here (they may tell u they are under NDA so cannot share a…

Your comment comes off as xenophobic. I know it's acceptable in tech circle to talk this way, but not cool.

No it doesn’t, He mentions His reasoning. Nothing in His reasoning gave off the vibe that he is afraid of others because they are different. ::prays for downvote button::

Re: Ask HN: Starting a SaaS business as non-technical founder

#30

Post by dragonwriter »

rimjongun wrote: post #29
rtx wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment comes off as xenophobic. I know it's acceptable in tech circle to talk this way, but not cool.

No it doesn’t, He mentions His reasoning. Nothing in His reasoning gave off the vibe that he is afraid of others because they are different. ::prays for downvote button::

> No it doesn’t,

Yes, it does.

If the “offshore” weren't in it, it would be just as accurate and not xenophobic.

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