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I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

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I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#1

Post by cameronrawson »

Hi there,

I'm stuck in a position in which I would love any advice. I'm in the process of a creating a startup with a friend, we face one problem, it's rather big, neither of us are developers. I've contacted many developers in the UK which is where I'm from and well... none of them will do it for equity, as again we face another problem, we are both under 18 and here in the UK the law stops us from doing anything and everything to make money. For us to incorporate to even be able to give equity away we would have to go through an even longer process then ever again due to our age.

I'm here to seek advice on exactly how we should try to find a developer to work for equity, we have applied to many startup incubators, YC included, however we feel we'll get the same feedback, we need a prototype.

What can we do?

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#2

Post by icey »

How much younger than 18? If it's within 2 years, you may be well served by spending the time building the software on your own - it's enough time that you can learn the basics of web development (go Ruby on Rails!) and then you'll have gained something from the venture whether you've succeeded or not.

I don't know what the incorporation laws are in the US with regards to age, but you may need to be 18 here as well.

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#3

Post by Roridge »

I was working at the age of 16 in the UK.

Sounds to me like you need a guarantor, someone who is willing to be your company figurehead, I suggest a parental figure.

I live in the UK and I am a developer who would be willing to work for equity if the idea was right. But your problem really is that it's very hard to get someone to do something for nothing. You could always try oDesk can get some very cheap developers on there, knock you up a prototype.

roridge@hotmail.com if you want to email me an NDA and we can at least discuss your venture.

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#5

Post by cameronrawson »

maxdemarzi wrote: post #4

Under 18? Obvious answer: Learn to code and build a prototype. Second obvious answer: Go to college and make friends with computer science majors and build a prototype.

I'm in the process of, I've bought PHP, MySQL, HTML and CSS guides/books. When the time is right I'll be applying for CS too.

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#6

Post by cameronrawson »

icey wrote: post #2

How much younger than 18? If it's within 2 years, you may be well served by spending the time building the software on your own - it's enough time that you can learn the basics of web development (go Ruby on Rails!) and then you'll have gained something from the venture whether you've succeeded or not. I don't know what the incorporation laws are in the US with regards to age, but you may need to be 18 here as well.

I'm 17, 18 within the next 6 months. I've started to learn PHP, I've heard that's the best place to start.

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#7

Post by Roridge »

maxdemarzi wrote: post #4

Under 18? Obvious answer: Learn to code and build a prototype. Second obvious answer: Go to college and make friends with computer science majors and build a prototype.

Some people might prefer to handle the other side of a business, that shouldn't put them off having a start up company.

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#8

Post by cameronrawson »

Roridge wrote: post #3

I was working at the age of 16 in the UK. Sounds to me like you need a guarantor, someone who is willing to be your company figurehead, I suggest a parental figure. I live in the UK and I am a developer who would be willing to work for equity if the idea was right. But your problem really is that it's very hard to get someone to do something for nothing. You could always try oDesk can get some very cheap developers o…

I've sent you an email. Thanks.

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#9

Post by [deleted] »

Roridge wrote: post #7
maxdemarzi wrote: post #4

Under 18? Obvious answer: Learn to code and build a prototype. Second obvious answer: Go to college and make friends with computer science majors and build a prototype.

Some people might prefer to handle the other side of a business, that shouldn't put them off having a start up company.

[deleted]

Re: I'm stuck in a tricky situation, any advice?

#10

Post by bdfh42 »

We are a UK micro software business who have developed software products for equity in a start-up before (although to be fair the guys we worked with were able to drum up half a million pounds in Angel investment). You could pitch us your idea in confidence to Mike at MYcartons.com (which is an email address that I can kill) - we will respond with a proper address to any initial contact.
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