Ask HN: Looking for an engineer/developer "life partner"

I'm a 23-year old "business type" looking to find a true engineering "life partner;" someone who I can work alongside, identifying innovative concepts that we can experiment with, develop, and build into valuable, meaningful, profitable businesses.

I've been working on a start-up concept for about 3 months now and we're really struggling to find the right fit with an engineer. Over time, it's occurred to me that what I'm truly looking for is someone who will take the plunge with many different ideas and really go after things. We're coming up with new concepts on a weekly basis, but have no engineer to gut check against or even build basic models to test out.

What I am hoping to find is someone who can be the ultimate partner, OWNING the technical development while working with me to outline & pursue the business opportunities.

So here's some more about me:

--I think I'm really capable when it comes to identifying opportunities. I believe I have a knack for envisioning innovative products and how they can be delivered to users in a valuable & profitable way.

--I am extremely passionate and hard-working. Simply put, I will work as hard as anyone to pursue something I believe in.

--I know what I'm not: an engineer. I have some design skill and think I have a strong feel for quality user experience and product development, but I'm not looking for someone to do all my dirty work. I want a partner, in the truest sense of the word. Someone who I can brainstorm ideas with, and then together we can go running with them. Someone who will own the development from vision to code, while we work together to analyze the markets & business angles. We both should exploit our strengths.

--I live in SF and am really only looking for someone in the Bay area

--I'm a pretty good guy to be around and extremely extremely loyal

--I currently work for a top tech company (starts with G and has an OO in it) and have a pretty strong set of people & business skills. I've got a really valuable network that can connect us to investors, other entrepreneurs, and resources we might need.

At the end of the day, I've learned a ton talking to other start-up founders, developers, etc. over the last few months. I am absolutely determined not to be some business type who is naive enough to play down the value of an engineer, try to tell them what to do, or think that my "idea" is the valuable part (and not the implementation).

If any of the developers out there are looking for this kind of partnership, email me. I'd love to chat, share concepts, talk strategy, and just get a feel for the fit.

Thanks all, feel free to comment away and ask any questions you want. E-mail is in my profile.

Jon

Hey Jack,

E-mail should be there now, sorry about that.

Everything I've learned from those with experience is that outsourcing is a poor, short-term fix. I need the expertise & insight of a real engineering lead, and one way or another when we get past the prototype phase, I'll just have someone else's code and still no lead engineering presence.

This is a really great point. Starting teaching myself Java about a month ago after I got frustrated with finding the right engineer, and plan to continue to learn as much as I can from the ground floor.

However - and I think many would agree - there are engineers who have been doing this their whole lives who are far beyond my capabilities and will be even if I work incredibly hard for many years. I think it's naive (and somewhat offensive) for me to think I should be able to fully catch up.

I do want to learn as much as I can, but I find it important to embrace the skills I have. Ultimately, a real team is a requirement if any start-up is going to succeed.

I just want to point out there seems to be a lot of Winklevoss-types looking Zuckerburg-types these days, basically everywhere. I thought this trend would die down after "The Social Network" came out, but in fact there seems to be even more now. There are so many startups these days precisely because developers have realized they don't need business-people, venture capital, or any of that overhead to grow a business... and this is primarily what's different about today's tech boom/bubble.

If your business plan is solid enough you would probably need to prove it, by putting the plan onto paper and begin shopping it around to the VC's and angel investors in SF. You'd need to show a developer that your idea is solid enough that you can obtain funding otherwise I can't think of any reason a developer would join a startup from square one at >50% dilution rather than start his own project.

The objective isn't necessarily to be the coder or to prove you're better or good enough to take the place of a full time coder. It's to at least be able to build your prototype and have a better understanding on the tech side. Doing so will prove more value prop in the short run and help find a true coder to team with.