A Simple Filter to Weed Out Non-technical Co-founders

The part that made me sympathize with the twins was the way Zuckerburg lied to them - telling them he was working on their project, but actually working on his own. He purposefully led them on, so he could get a headstart.

Re: A Simple Filter to Weed Out Non-technical Co-founders

#7

Post by dwrowe » Tue, Mar 29, 2011, 9:34 PM UTC

It seems like another indicator would be requiring anyone you want to share the idea with to sign an NDA. Unless you're sharing an already developed algorithm, or something as special sauce, the NDA just comes across as "My idea the important part here".

Re: A Simple Filter to Weed Out Non-technical Co-founders

#8

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 29, 2011, 9:35 PM UTC

kirpekar wrote: post #3

You want to qualify your relationship with a founder based solely on the answer to a single question about a popular Hollywood flick?

[deleted]

Re: A Simple Filter to Weed Out Non-technical Co-founders

#9

Post by waxman » Tue, Mar 29, 2011, 9:35 PM UTC

kirpekar wrote: post #3

You want to qualify your relationship with a founder based solely on the answer to a single question about a popular Hollywood flick?

For these types of decisions (picking co-founders, hiring, etc.) you want no false positives, which means that any legitimate red flag should be a deal-breaker.

The cost of passing on the right person is far less than the cost of saying yes to the wrong one (e.g. passing over a good biz dev guy who goes on to succeed at another start-up vs. hiring a jerk who ruins your business then sues you)

Re: A Simple Filter to Weed Out Non-technical Co-founders

#10

Post by blogimus » Tue, Mar 29, 2011, 9:45 PM UTC

kirpekar wrote: post #3

You want to qualify your relationship with a founder based solely on the answer to a single question about a popular Hollywood flick?

I think what the blogger is saying indirectly that is a test that is necessary but not sufficient to qualify a non-technical co-founder. If you ask this as the first question, then it will save you the time for the rest of the questions.